Take It All Away
by ReachingForDarkness
Summary: When a teenage singer dies, she appears in the Reaper's Game several weeks later. The very first day, she meets two others and, compelled by something she doesn't understand, has decided to help them. But will it be enough? Will they take her pain away?
1. Week One, Day One: A Deal For You

**Week One, Day One: A Deal For You**

The last thing I remember before I died was the pain. It was unbearable, excruciating. Like you were getting stabbed repeatedly; over and over until you screamed to whoever was doing the deed to finish you. To spare you of the blood dripping from a fatal wound.

That's exactly what I had been doing at my death.

The murderer had been jealous of me because of my rising statues as a singer. So they had me killed in the most brutal way you could ever imagine: They stabbed me at least thirty times before letting my body run dry of the blood it had sustained for life.

I never saw the persons face; nor did I know if it was a girl or a boy. At least two other singers that had started out around the same time as me was who I suspected to have killed me; I would never find out myself though. I'm dead.

The police announced me deceased on the spot after the fifth or tenth stab into my heart.

"Terrible way to die; she was just starting to become popular worldwide…" They had said before telling the whole world about my death.

All of this occurred in a matter of minutes after my death, but I know nothing about it. I only know about the pain that still stabs itself into me every sneaking chance it can get. It wasn't that long ago that it had come to be, everyone still grieved for me.

When I realized I had died, my body wouldn't allow me to cry. I didn't want it to anyway. Crying in front of people was not good at all; I considered it a weakness. So I locked all the tears away, hoping that no one would ever touch them again.

But a twist of fate wasn't going to allow me that bitter sweet wish that I so desperately craved. It seemed that it wanted to punish me more and more for dying in my prime of youth. I didn't seem to care though…or maybe it was just the way my person had come to be?

* * *

My eyes burst open widely as a shot of pain coursed through my body from my chest. A gasp from the sting came out as I heard people walking passed me. I didn't notice because the attack was really hurting me this time and my eyes stared forlornly at the blue sky above me. The pain slowly went away and my breath came heavily before I managed to sit up.

I wasn't surprised when I saw that I was in the middle of the street with crowds of people walking like they couldn't even see. I stared for a few seconds until I realized what was going on.

"Oh…" I muttered, not finishing the sentence as I stood up quickly.

I could remember somewhat that someone told me that this was a Game, and that I needed to find a partner to pair up with. I knew that I was dead, but I struggled to forget how it had happened. I folded my arms behind my head as my eyes scoured the area around me.

"Ah, I'm betting I'm in Shibuya right now. Guess I should go and find a partner to pair up with." I told myself before I began walking in a random direction.

It didn't take long until an overwhelming urge to start singing took control of me. I smiled a little because I remembered one certain song that I always sang in front of a crowd of people back when I was alive. I took a deep breath and summoned the lyrics into my head before singing.

_"Calling,_

_Someone is calling,_

_Wait and see_

_Empathy _

_You're not the only one. _

_Little by little you'll feel a bit better…"_

I sang softly before I left the scramble crossing. Not a second after did I get a message on my cell phone. I stopped singing out loud to hum as I took the phone out of my skirt pocket. I looked at the message to see that it was a mission.

"Aren't we a little impatient?" I teased to no one in particular.

I then sighed apathetically before placing my phone back in my skirt pocket with a murmur that sounded like "I guess so." I then made my way around the cross walk without really thinking about it. I let myself wander through different areas of Shibuya before someone began screaming in desperation.

My feet stopped moving as my thoughts shattered on their own. I turned my head lazily towards the sound and not even a second later, someone whisked passed me. They almost crashed into my shoulder before I took several steps back and glared after the person. But I was surprised a little to see that, whoever that person had been, all I saw was a flash of orange hair.

I scowled at them because of their rudeness before I noticed a green frog jumping at me with its blue legs in some weird symbol, metallic lines. I swiveled out of the way and the frog didn't even seem to sense me standing there. I realized pretty quickly that the frog- and several others -were going after that person. I stared after the frogs as they followed with the speed of a dog, and that was surprising enough in its own. I took out my phone one more time and read the words from the text I had received:

_**Reach Ten-Four. You have sixty minutes. Fail, and face erasure. -The Reapers.**_

I stared at it for a few more minutes until I sighed apathetically.

"Well…whoever that was, they seemed to be heading that way. I guess I'll head on over there as well." I muttered before snapping my phone shut and putting it away again.

I was going to walk after the person who had run into me when I stopped. I brushed my hair a little before taking off at a run just for the hell of it. It wasn't long before I was at Hachiko's Statue and frogs were jumping up all around me. I glared at them but said nothing, cursing them in my head instead.

"Just leave me alone! I didn't do anything to you!" I heard a teenage male's voice scream.

My eyes rolled over to the source and I saw that it was the person who had run into me back at the crossing. I frowned and started to say something when people around me and him began screaming out for help or pain. I glanced at them from the corner of my eyes and saw that the frog-like creatures and several other types were killing them off. It didn't seem to shock me, but I heard the boy's distress even from the distance between the two of us.

He mumbled something as frogs jumped at him, causing injuries he wasn't going to get rid of easily. I sighed and started to make my way towards the teenager.

"Pairing up with him may not be my best decision…but I don't really have a choice, now do I?" I asked myself with a smirk.

Just before I was within his hearing range, a girl's voice screamed out from behind me:

"Found one!"

I moved out of the way just in time to get missed being barreled into like the boy had done to me. I saw a flash of pink hair in a brownish hat before the girl stopped dead-center in front of the orange haired teenager.

"You! Forge a pact with me!" She demanded and it caused me to smirk, even though I wasn't happy she had almost hit me.

Everyone was doing that to me today, it seemed. First that boy, then the frogs, and the girl just now. I was surprised I was alive still. Oh, that wasn't a very good joke, was it? I guess not.

"I'm not going to be getting this one as my partner it seems." I said to myself before taking a few steps to the side just to see what these two could do when they paired up.

But it didn't look like it was going to go anywhere at the moment. Both of them were arguing with each other. I was about to sigh in aggravation when the teenage boy said that he accepted the girl's declaration for a pact- though it may have been just to shut her up. A burst of light suddenly appeared around the two of them and I smirked to myself.

"Their pact was accepted. That's good. Now let's see what happens when they're against the frogs." I said to no one in particular while crossing my arms and staring at both of them.

They started attacking the frogs that were now jumping at them without words from the other and I watched in amazement. They had just become partners and they were already acting like they were pros at this! I tell you, this wasn't something you saw every day. Not even five minutes after they began to attack the frogs did they disappear and I could see a red pin with a design of a flame on it from the boys hand.

I smirked to myself as they talked- well, the girl did most of the talking. It didn't look like the boy was much of a talker to anyone that came up to him. I finally turned around, growing tired of watching newly dead people trying to survive through the day. I actually found it rather annoying.

I started walking off when the girl called out to her partner as he bumped passed me, knocking into my shoulder once again. He didn't even look back at me as I glared daggers at him.

"Jerk. All men are." I muttered to myself as he walked farther away, just barely hearing my words through those massively huge headphones on his ears.

But he didn't bother to reply as he kept on walking. Not even a minute after he left, the girl that he had made a pact with ran after him. She easily avoided running into me and I took out my phone once again to look at the message.

"…I guess I'll head over there by myself now." I mused while putting my phone away and walking the way those two had gone.

I managed to get to the scramble crossing before the green frogs started to attack me. I didn't notice quickly enough and that got my arm ripped up. I felt old instincts kick in before I swung my hand at the frog. I smacked its face without a problem and it fell to the ground several feet away. I felt a tiny trickle of blood run down my arm as more frogs appeared in a circle around me.

I glared at the frogs as I saw that they were going to all jump at me at the same time. I didn't say anything as they finally lunged at me for what they thought was the finishing blow. I sighed with a shake of my head before I raised my hands with my palms facing the frogs in front of me.

"Sorry, but not today." I said just before an invisible force pushed every frog away from me while also ripping them to shreds.

They croaked a little in pain before they disappeared and I lowered my hands with a sigh. I started walking towards the Ten-Four Building across from where I stood. I knew I had at least twenty minutes to get to the building, but I wasn't that concerned. I was almost there when I passed a man in pure red clothes. He and I glanced at the other before I walked away from him without a word.

I stopped just before I got to the Ten-Four Building and I turned my head to look for those two from Hachiko's Statue. I didn't see them at all so I assumed that they had gotten passed me without my knowing and I shook my head. I then walked all the way to Ten-Four and, just like I had thought, the two of them were right in front of the building.

They looked relieved that they made it in time and I moved towards them. I didn't know what for to be honest, but I figured that it was because I wanted them to notice me. I got within hearing range of the two when someone else spoke up with a teasing tone in their voice.

"Only an idiot would screw up on Day One, you know."

I stopped walking the second I heard the voice and the two others seemed to freeze up in confusion. They looked around but didn't find the owner of the voice and the girl's eyes landed on me for the first time since I saw her it seemed. I watched as her eyes grew to the size of a tennis ball and I stared at her blankly as the voice spoke once more.

"You three are gonna get erased sooner or later. So you wanna help a little girl like me out and let me earn a few extra points?" The teasing voice asked with a slight giggle.

I knew after those words were spoken that more frogs were appearing and I turned my head to look behind myself just in time to see a frog starting to appear out of thin air.

"Noise. And I thought I'd be safe with you two." I said and my own voice held a slight trace of annoyance as I took a few steps to the side from the two.

Both finally noticed that I had spoken but they couldn't do anything because they had to fight with the frogs as well. Seven of the twenty rushed out at me and I didn't even bother to raise my hands this time to attack. I stood where I was and a blast like before hit all seven in the blink of an eye. They were torn to shreds like the others and I glanced over at the two teenagers. They were so into their own fights that they never saw one of the frogs sneak around to attack the girl behind her back.

I frowned before slamming the force onto the frog and it shattered loudly, catching the girl and boy's attention.

"Watch your backs. I won't do that again." I told her as more frogs appeared around me.

They were easily taken care of and I saw that no more were appearing. I began to walk back towards the two of them when I felt a shadow cast itself over my body. I jumped out of the way and landed on my hands before putting my feet down as well. I looked up to see what had attacked me to see it was a giant bear-like creature.

It roared before running towards me and I lunged out of the way seconds before the long claws slammed into the ground where I had been, making an indentation. I didn't hesitate this time to swing my foot up and it connected with the bear's snout. As soon as I made contact, the invisible force blew it apart from the head down. I didn't know for sure if that was the last one this time so I checked all the directions around me in case. I didn't see any coming this time and I turned towards the teenagers to see that they were having a hell of a time trying to kill their own bear. I rolled my eyes before walking up to them.

I stood in between the two before shoving myself in front and the girl said something to me that I ignored, but I knew it was about me not having a partner to help me fight.

"Worry about yourselves. Day One is nothing compared to the next six days. This day is like picking flowers when weighed with the others." I said as the bear swung a clawed paw at me.

I didn't move as the force slammed into the creature like the other one. It roared in pain while disappearing starting from the stomach and I turned towards the two with a look of annoyance in my eyes.

"And if this is what the two of you have to offer, I won't blame the Reapers from trying to erase you." I said while running a hand through my hair to keep it where I wanted it to be.

I heard the girl tell her partner that she didn't want to be erased and that was when I chuckled at them. She looked at me with a trace of fear in her eyes before I offered my hand to her.

"If you train hard enough, you'll be able to survive the coming six days. What do you say to me helping you out tomorrow only? I can promise that much since I might still be living then." I said to her.

She looked at me as if I was crazy and I stared back at her. As time ticked by and she didn't take my hand I lowered it with a soft sigh. I took a step back when she finally nodded and I watched her offer her hand to me this time.

"Okay! You have a deal. I'm Shiki, and this is my partner Neku." She told me.

I couldn't stop myself from smirking with a chuckle and I put my hand in hers. We stared at the other while shaking our hands in a way that made it seem like we were doing a business deal. Which we kind of were, but not the kind where she got money or I did. More like the kind where you had someone come in and protect you from the masses of fans that want your autograph or something crazy like that.

"I don't have a partner, as you can see from the empty space beside me. But you and him can call me Rose." I replied and the last thing I saw was Shiki's eyes widening in disbelief when darkness covered me.


	2. Week One, Day Two: Playing With Death

**Week One, Day Two: Playing With Death**

**(Author's Note: I am writing this for dreamingleaf7 for the review she made. I know about needing a partner in the Game, I've honestly played it enough to remember that by heart. Rose is a unique case, which you will find out as the story goes on. I'm sorry for making her powers seem like a Mary Sue, though. I just thought it would be a good idea to have her use telekinesis to destroy Noise. And honestly, I would never make the excuse that Neku and Shiki are her partners. Um…thank you for the review and I hope this has helped you understand a little better.)**

I blinked my eyes open as I gasped in pain as it tore through my chest. For a moment, I thought I was dying again when I saw Shiki standing over me with her eyebrows scrunched together in worry.

"Are you okay? You've been doing that since I woke up." She said to me in a concerned tone.

I blinked a few more times as I caught my breath before sitting up. The loud noise of the trains nearby told me that we were in the underground station and I unconsciously clutched my chest, where the pain was still pounding. But it was dull enough for me to relax a little. I was able to remember what had gone on the last time I was awake and I stayed on my butt until the pounding in my heart had stopped.

"I'm fine. This happens all the time." I answered her before getting to my feet.

Shiki watched me worriedly in case the pain came back to me and I barely noticed as I looked around once more. I had been right when thinking that we were in the underground train station and I saw Neku unconscious a few feet away from us. There was silence between me and the girl as she took in my look, while I ran my fingers through my hair to keep it from getting anymore rats.

"Is there a reason you're staring at me like that? I told you that I'd stick with you and him for the full day and I usually keep deals and promises no matter how silly they are." I said while glancing at her through several strands of my hair.

Shiki continued to stare at me as if my words hadn't processed fully with her and I didn't bother to repeat myself. I started to tuck my hair out of my eyes when she finally said something, though it wasn't what I had expected:

"You're that singer, aren't you?"

My hands froze for just a fraction of a second and my eyes stared into hers with surprise in them. Shiki must have mistaken that surprise for something else because she began to stutter out words when we heard Neku getting up. I turned my head towards him just in time to replace my surprise with a blank expression.

"Finally. I was about to get a bucket of water to splash on you." I said, though the tone in my voice wasn't playful or teasing.

It was humorless and full of seriousness in it. Neku looked up at the two of us and when he realized I was standing with Shiki, his eyes widened just a little like I had done. This made me frown as I took out the cell phone that was in my pocket.

"We're in the underpass, and if you guys want my help I suggest you get up quickly. Now that you're awake the mission should be arriving any second now." I said to them while leaning against one of the railings and flipping open my black phone.

I heard scuffling so I knew Neku had gotten up like I told him and I glanced down at my cell phone in preparation for the message that was coming. It soon appeared while Shiki had started talking with her partner in a hushed tone that I chose to ignore. I was the first to say the mission since I had my phone ready and it made me smirk when they gave me looks of surprise.

_**"Set the cursed sculpture free. You have sixty minutes. Fail, and face erasure. -The Reapers."**_

I felt my smirk grow just a little bit more as I snapped my phone shut and put it back in my skirt pocket. I felt Shiki and Neku staring at me wearily and I turned my head towards them as I brushed my hair behind my ears.

"Hachiko's in trouble, it seems. Are you coming with? Clock's ticking." I said in a way that sounded like I was teasing the two as if they were children.

And compared to my attitude, they practically were children. I put my hands in my pockets while staring at them with a bored look on my face. I didn't have to say another word to them as Shiki grabbed Neku's wrist and pulled him forward. They rushed passed me and I started to tell them to stop when I decided against it.

Better they learned the hard way not to rush into things first, don't you think? Just as that thought crashed into my mind, so did the two of them. I stared at them as they fell to the ground and Shiki whined that that hurt. This made me roll my eyes and I walked over to them to pick them up by their shoulders.

"Haven't you learned not to run into things head-on? It's common sense when you're playing for your life." I said to the two.

I noticed Neku frown at me and I didn't have to read his thoughts to know that he didn't like what I had said to them. I only rolled my eyes and turned towards the train station behind me. My eyes looked all around before they landed on one of the men with a red jacket and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Neku flipping his black pin in the air. I knew he was trying to read the man's thoughts and it made me scoff just a little.

"That's not going to work. He's a special person here." I told him when I knew he had tried to look into the red jacket adults thoughts.

This gave me looks from the two partners and I shrugged it off while noticing that the man was coming towards us. I said nothing while putting my hands in my skirt pockets and turned my eyes away from the man as he stood in front of us.

"Scan and erase all the Noise in this area." He told us and Shiki started saying that she didn't see any Noise around us.

But the man walked off without explaining himself and I smirked a little. I took my hands out of my pockets while pulling out my own black skull pin and I had it on my thumb, preparing to flip it.

"He means you need to use your pin to scan, just like if you were trying to get into someone's head." I told them before I flipped my own pin in the air.

I caught it easily and the entire area around me burst into ultra dark colors. That allowed me to find the Noise, though. I saw the scrolls that had housed the frogs from yesterday and I knew that Neku saw the Noise as well.

"Here we go. Get your pins ready." I said to them as the Noise noticed that we could see them.

Several frogs jumped out at us and I immediately swung out a hand for those that came at me. They yelped while combusting from the inside and I kept back from the two dead people beside me. I knew that they were fighting as partners so I didn't look at them as more Noise jumped out at me. I easily blew them up and there were soon no more Noise coming at me or Neku, who I noticed was the only one beside me fighting. But after the enemies were gone, I caught sight of Shiki once again.

I wasn't confused for why that was because I knew that it was what partners did. One fought on a different dimension than the other. I heard Shiki ask why she hadn't seen Neku and I heard the red jacket man answer her.

"Noise exist simultaneously in two zones. The only way to defeat them is by purging them from both of the zones." He then walked away and I heard the girl sigh in relief at the answer to her question.

I looked towards where the wall had been and I saw that it wasn't there anymore. I turned back towards the two I agreed to work with as Shiki said something about two Player Pins, which were the black skull pins everyone had.

"I wonder why…You only need one Player Pin. Do you have more than one, Rose?" She asked me.

I blinked and stared at her before stuffing a hand in my left skirt pocket, where my cell phone and skull pin was. I pulled it out with a face that said I only had one pin. Shiki made a noise in the back of her throat before she turned towards Neku and she started complimenting the boy on how good he was with his pins. I rolled my eyes while putting my pin back in the pocket where it belonged. It wasn't long before the girl yelled her head off when Neku said that he was listening, when he obviously wasn't.

"I can't tell if you're listening if you just stand there! Maybe you should take off those headphones so you can hear me better. It's rude." Shiki said and I noticed that both of them had forgotten that I was here.

It didn't bother me that much, though it did make my chest lurch where I got stabbed to death.

I almost flinched from the pain when Neku turned around with his arms crossed and he yelled, "Would you shut the hell up! I just met you. I don't like you. I don't give a rat's ass if you think I'm rude!"

That was what made me frown and cover my ears lightly. This boy knew how to get on my nerves, and I bet he could make a baby cry if he used that kind of voice and language in front of them. I saw Shiki's lips move and I knew she was saying something about him yelling. I chose then to stop this stupid argument. But Neku beat me to it. I saw him walking out of the terminal and I noticed Shiki frowning at him.

"Get back here! I'm not done talking to you!" She screamed before running after the boy.

I sighed to myself but followed the two idiotic teenagers.

"Neku…Stop! Wait for us!" She called finally as we reached the daylight from the terminal.

Shiki skirted passed me to get in front of her partner and I heard her screaming at him that she was her partner. I just shook my head and stood beside Neku, who didn't look happy about that.

"Hey, if you don't-"

"Gotcha punks now."

Someone interrupted me and it startled Shiki. She jumped from the ground her feet had been placed on and she spun around while asking who was there. I thought it was funny that she didn't notice the blond haired teenage boy wearing the skull beanie until he started talking again.

"You got us good yesterday, but today I'ma crush you, yo!"

I sighed to myself through clenched teeth as a sudden urge to let my hand rise just so I could blow the boy up appeared. Thankfully, Shiki was able to find her voice as she told him that he had the wrong person.

"Do either of you know this guy?" She then asked the two of us.

"Does it look like I'd know anyone here?"

"Don't insult me."

I questioned as Neku commented with a glare towards his partner. The person that we were talking about frowned at the three of us as he stretched out one of his arms in preparation of what I knew was going to be a fight.

"Need a hint? Go ask your friends." He said to us.

That was when I realized what he was talking about. If I had been a normal girl, my hand would have smacked my forehead. But I wasn't, so I opted for an annoyed sigh as Shiki asked him what he was talking about.

"Shut up, yo! You ain't foolin' me! I can't scan you. You gotta be widdem! You can't outsmart me, yo." He screamed and I shook my head while closing my eyes.

Neku was the one that heard me mutter something about idiot Players as Shiki tried to make the other boy stop from attacking us. That was when I opened my eyes and glared at the other boy.

"Beat! Stop it!" A girl's voice called out before I could even begin to tell him to knock it off as well, "They're not Reapers!"

That was when I noticed the child behind the boy she had called Beat. She wore a beanie hat just like the other boy and she had on a long, kind of peachy shirt with a skull and cross bones in the center. She had blond hair as well and slightly pale skin.

"They're Players, just like us." She muttered, realizing that she had everyone's attention now.

Beat looked towards her in shock that he tried to mask but he didn't do a good job in hiding it very well. The girl quickly pulled out her black Player Pin and I took out mine with a slightly amused look on my face.

"We've got our Player Pins right here, just like the two of you. Other Players can't scan each other, as you've just witnessed and should have already known." I said to Beat, he frowned at me in a child like manner.

"She's right. You couldn't scan me either, remember?" She said to him, as if that would help the matter.

But Beat just made a noise and shook the back of his head in embarrassment. He then turned to us and apologized for jumping to conclusions with a small smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

"Heh, no worries. You just gave us a start." Shiki assured him, which I rolled my eyes about.

She was probably the only one that had jumped so much from shock at the sudden soon to be attack. I had barely flinched, and I doubted Neku was going to admit it even if he had been surprised.

"Yesterday this pink haired chick cornered us before we could get to Ten-Four. Then Pinkie sicked a buncha Noise on us…Messed us up bad, yo." Beat explained and I couldn't stop the smirk from appearing on my face as I put my Player Pin back in my skirt pocket.

That sounded like such a silly name for a Reaper. I was sure 'Pinkie' would have gone ballistic if she heard that comment.

"So that's why you were out for payback." Shiki said, as if she had suddenly made a new discovery.

I was already growing bored with this conversation. There wasn't much left that I wanted to have to do with these guys now that the possible attack had passed.

"Yup. Hey, hold up. We should do introductions," I sighed to myself then and Shiki frowned at me. "The name's Beat. And this is my- my partner, Rhyme."

I sensed that there was a deep secret at the pause in this Players introduction. Rhyme merely said hello, obviously not noticing the pause and no one else seemed to hear it either.

"Hi! I'm Shiki. That one over there is Neku, my partner. And the other girl is Rose; she's helping us survive Day Two." The girl said while pointing towards her partner and me.

Glancing at the orange haired teenager, I could see that he wanted nothing to do with these people just as much as I did. I smirked to myself at that. We at least had one thing in common that neither of us would disagree with.

"Wha's with the phones? He still mad?" Beat asked and Shiki smiled towards him.

I heard her say that Neku was just Neku and to not feel bad. I chose not to add my own input at that last sentence as a rush of wind blew at me.

"Lemme give you a tip to make up for jumpin' yas. You figure out how to use your phones yet?" Beat asked us.

Shiki questioned if it was the cell phones and then she started muttering that we couldn't get any calls and sending messages. And that we could only check the mission mail. I heard Beat and Rhyme explain what she and Neku could do with the phones and I ignored it because there was nothing that I needed to know about the phones. At a sudden thought, I pulled out my own and opened it to stare at the contents.

There wasn't much on it, but I wasn't looking at that. I was starting to flip through my pictures of when I had been alive when I heard Beat screaming at someone.

"You piece a' dirt! Screw you! We don't want your help! Le's bounce, Rhyme." I looked up from my cell phone to see that he was walking off with his partner and I had a feeling that it was all Neku's fault that these people had left.

But I had to admit, I was sort of glad that they had gone. Protecting these two was hard enough, having another pair would kill me.

"Nice going, Neku! We should all stick together, and you know it!" Shiki yelled and I closed my phone with a light thwack.

The orange haired boy asked if his partner wanted to go with them and she frowned, as if she found that insulting. She murmured that they were partners and I closed my eyes. This was going to get very ugly, I just knew it.

"But I don't understand you! Let me in! Tell me what you're thinking!" She suddenly screamed.

"Let yourself in. You can scan me." Neku countered and I let one eye open to glare at him.

I was tired of hearing these two talk. It was like trying to calm down children after they had gotten into a fight, which was basically what was happening.

"I'm not opening up to anyone. Ever. Other people just hold me back. I can do things my own way." Neku suddenly said and I felt him bump passed me like that first time we had met.

Shiki called out for him as I tried to stay on my feet. I didn't stop myself from glaring after the boy and I raised a hand towards him. I almost used my powers to stop him from moving when I decided against it and instead covered my eyes.

"Come on. Let's get the annoying boy." I said to his partner without bothering to check to see if she was going to acknowledge me.

I jogged after Neku and Shiki slowly followed me. When I reached the boy, I latched a hand onto his arm tightly. He turned to glare down at me when I beat him to it.

"I don't care if you think bunnies are better company than us. If you leave your partner even for a second, there's nothing that the Noise around here won't do to kill you both. If I were you, I'd stay close to her, even if you don't enjoy anyone's company." I said to him while shoving him out of my way.

We walked past Moyai, one of the tinier statues here in Shibuya, and I saw a Reaper clad in pure red. I stopped walking and Neku did the same, obviously seeing the same thing. But Shiki continued walking and she hit the wall. I heard her say ow as I turned towards the Reaper with a sigh.

"What are your conditions?" I growled.

My head was beginning to pound in annoyance from these two already today. He looked directly at me and I waited with very little patience for his answer.

"Lift the statue's curse." He told me.

At that, my mouth slightly dropped. There was no statue here that should need purifying. The only monument around here was the…Moyai that wasn't that far away from us.

When I realized what I was thinking, I closed my eyes with a heavy sigh. I didn't notice Neku walk passed me to stand in front of the Reaper and me until I opened my eyes to see it for myself.

"You're a Reaper." He stated.

I sighed once again while face palming my forehead. It was just so obvious because they were one of the only people besides other Player's that could actually see us.

"I don't get paid to chitchat. Play the Game." The Reaper said before he turned away from us.

I turned around and walked towards the Moyai statue as Shiki stomped over to her partner. I didn't notice that she was screaming at him until I pulled out my Player Pin. That was when I twisted my head towards the two arguing partners.

"Hey, the Noise is all over the statue. I think you want to be here to help me fight. I'm not going to blow them all up to lift the curse by myself." I said to them loud enough so I was heard.

When I knew that they were watching me, I flipped my pin over and caught it in my hand. As soon as I did, my eyes became hyper aware like before. I easily saw the Noise and let out a low, shrill whistle that caught the attention of the enemies. I saw them coming at me as Neku and Shiki rushed over to my side.

The Noise took the form of four wolves as the girl left for the other dimension. I saw the first creature coming at me and I swung my hand out at it. The Noise imploded with a high pitched whine and I sighed with a bored expression on my face.

"I'm not fighting by myself, I hope. I don't make deals that aren't met half-way." I said and this made Neku start fighting, even though I knew he didn't want to.

Soon, all of the Noise around us were defeated and the Reaper, who had been watching us, said that we had met the objective. I noticed him leave then. I knew what Shiki was about to say even as I turned away from her.

"And no, this does not mean we have a mission clear. That was just to cross the wall. Look at your palms, I bet the watch is still counting. Now get the talking out of your system and meet me at the next wall or Hachiko. I don't care which." I called out to them.

I felt the two partners staring after me and I said nothing more as I kept walking towards the spot I knew the dog was in. I was soon at the statue of the dog and I tapped my foot against the ground impatiently. I watched the people passing by as I tried to figure out how to clean Hachiko's curse. I took out my Player Pin while beginning to hum one of the songs that I used to sing.

_"Where did we meet just before like this?_

_I know your smile, _

_Your voice just like that,"_

I flipped my pin and my senses were hyper aware. I looked around the statue but I found nothing that would resemble Noise. I sighed to myself while letting my pin return my senses to normal.

_"You talk to me and I smile back._

_I don't believe in fantasy._

_Same-"_

"Rose! Did you figure out how to cure Hachiko?"

I jumped at the sound of my name. I turned to see that Shiki and Neku were walking towards me and I glared at them. My song was left to fade away in the wind and I had a sinking feeling that they had at least caught the last part of my voice.

"It's rude to sneak up on people, you know. And using the Player Pin won't show us any Noise, so that's out of the question. Other than that, I have no idea what we can do to cure Hachiko." I said while recovering my nearly blank composure.

I felt Neku glaring at the back of my head and I refrained from blowing his brains out with my powers. Something told me that doing that kind of act would surely make me lost their trust.

"Well…if you can't find anything wrong, should we take a closer look on him? I mean, doesn't he look a little different then when he was at Hachi Fest?" Shiki asked as her eyes stared at the back of my head.

I didn't bother to turn my head to glare at her because I figured by now that she felt it even when I wasn't staring at her.

"I didn't go to that festival, but we can get a closer look, I suppose." I muttered before walking towards Hachiko.

Neku and Shiki followed me without anymore words and I looked over the statue on closer inspection. The other two did the same and we looked at the statue in silence. I noticed the boy step closer than the two of us and, not wanting to get upstaged, I did the same. Almost immediately after, I caught the distinct scent of wolf: musky and full of blood. Then I noticed a blue mark on his right shoulder and I scrunched my eyebrows together.

That was what finalized my thoughts, and they weren't very happy ones. I growled lowly to myself as Shiki said that she thought we should look for more facts on Hachiko. But I knew what she didn't, and that meant we didn't have to go scrounging around for more clues.

"That's just a bunch of crap. Making them beat around the bush and use their Player Pins to figure this mission out. I could just kill them," I muttered to myself before putting one of my hands on Hachiko.

I heard Shiki ask me what I was doing and I looked towards her with an expression that said I was not going to be messed with at the moment.

"I'm polishing the damn thing. I suggest you two do the same before I force you to." I demanded and the two of them stared down at me in bemusement.

"Won't that…you know…cause a-?"

"A scene? I'll be taken to hell if anyone see's us. And it doesn't matter if they do notice. Now start polishing!"

With that order in mind, everyone did as they were told. We started polishing and we had just finished doing the first layer, when a growl was heard close by my ear. The other two seemed to hear the same thing because they stopped polishing for a second.

"Did you say something Neku?" Shiki asked her partner. I heard him say no and they went back to shining Hachiko.

"You know…It seems like the more we polish, the less this looks like Hachiko." She then stated.

That was when the growl got louder. It surprised me because I hadn't been expecting it and I stopped to stare at the statue. This time, I saw markings all over the statue and I knew that we were getting closer to revealing what it actually was.

"Stop growling and polish!" Shiki finally screamed.

Neku muttered that he wasn't growling and that was when they both turned to stare at me accusingly. That was when I lowered both of my hands and glared at the two of them.

"Don't assume that I growl when I get angry! It's the stat-!"

Another snarl came out before a Noise in the form of a wolf jumped out of Hachiko. It scared Shiki and I heard her start screaming that something had come from the statue. I reacted faster than they thought could happen and my hand swung up passed the girl's ear.

One of the five Noise exploded from the inside out and that seemed to scare the girl even more. I ignored her as Neku started using his pins to fight off the other Noise. Shiki was sent to the other dimension once again and I saw one of the wolves lunge at me.

It tore into my left arm and bit into it deeply. I bit my lip to keep from yelling in pain even as another Noise raked its claws down my right leg. I tumbled to the ground and three of the remaining five sprang at me. I managed to swing both my bloody hand and my good one up and a wave of my energy slammed into all of the Noise around me.

All three were shoved off of me and I scrambled to my feet, only to fall back down from the pain in my leg and arm. Neku finished off the rest of the wolves without my help and that was when Shiki reappeared beside me. She looked down at her hand and smiled in glee.

"Neku, Rose! We did it! The timer's gone! That means that there were Noise possessing both the Moyai and Hachiko." She said to us.

I knew that neither of them noticed that I was bleeding on the ground around us. I managed to at least get to my feet and put all my weight on my left leg, the one that wasn't ruined.

"Our mission was to get rid of both." Neku muttered as I leaned back against the statue.

I couldn't tell you if I was standing or sitting now from the loss of blood. I was aware enough to know that I was leaning against Hachiko at the least.

"…said before you don't need any friends."

"Yeah. Your point?"

That was Shiki and Neku talking to each other. I put my good hand over my bloody arm and I used my usual attacking powers to slowly repair the wound enough to stop it from bleeding. I managed to close it just a little and I started to reach for my leg when there was a new voice that cut between the arguing partners.

"This is so infuriating! Huh? You three again?"

My heart and blood ran cold when I heard those words. Neku and Shiki even stopped their argument from the shock that they felt. I knew that they had heard that girl's voice before as well as we turned to stare at her for the first time.

"You were at Ten-Four yesterday! You're that Reaper!" Neku screamed as we all took in her choice of fashion.

There was a pink bob on the top of her head with pale pink lips and what I thought were a mix of purple and pink eyes. She wore a turtle neck coat that cut down at her stomach before flaring out and black short shorts were next. And when she moved her arms, I saw that she was wearing a white corset with green strings tying them together. And her entire arms- hands included -were covered in the jacket.

"Well, excuse me for doing my job," she huffed with a pouty look on her face.

Shiki stood beside Neku as I forced myself to stop leaning against Hachiko. The Reaper sighed while putting a sharp fingernail against the side of her face, like she was getting a bad headache or something.

"You know, you owe me a bowl of ramen. For not disappearing like you're s'posed to." She said to us.

I frowned at her stupidity. She was supposed to be acting like one of those conniving, mission making Reapers. There was no way that she could be a real Reaper.

"What's wrong? Too spooked to answer? This should bring you around!" She said before sending out a lot of Noise at us.

I was caught by surprise and both Neku and Shiki were the same. I saw the first wolf Noise coming at me and I reacted faster then I normally would have. That Noise was torn to pieces with one blow before the partners attacked on different dimensions once more. I saw the red hedgehog Noise lurking in the back and I knew that that was the one Noise that we had to fight.

"That one, Neku. We need to get the red-!"

Another wolf Noise came at me and I blew it to smithereens from pure instinct. The orange haired teen finally understood what I was saying and he attacked the Noise that I told him about. Shiki appeared beside us and she was panting like crazy. I hadn't realized that I was doing the same as her until I lowered my hand. Neku was beside us and holding his left arm gently as a trickle of blood ran down him. The Reaper started laughing in excitement then.

"Wow! You're, like, stronger than I thought. But I'm not done playing yet! This next Noise will be a killer." She said while putting a finger to her lip with excitement dancing in her eyes.

I walked closer to Neku as he grimaced at the Noise patterns in the air around us. I raised both of my hands in preparation for the attack that was about to come.

"Hm? Please tell me that the two of you are not planning to fight me?" She threw her head back in laughter before staring wickedly at the two of us, "How stupid can you two get? You'll never win against a full fledged Reaper! But all right. I'm game. I was getting bored anyway."

I watched as she erased the Noise that she had summoned. I glared at her as Neku looked towards her in shock. I don't think he expected that to happen, and neither did Shiki.

"A-Aren't the Noise on your side?" I heard him ask.

The Reaper and I looked at him with mocking stares, but hers had quickly turned into annoyance with a crinkled nose.

"Eww, gross! Don't group us together. The Noise are nothing but tools. Pawns. Exactly like you Players." I saw her eyes slide towards me and I glared at her while raising my good hand.

I was prepared to blow her to smithereens if she tried to attack the two of us, or just me. I saw Neku prepare to attack just like I was doing and that was when Shiki screamed at him and me to not do it.

"You don't want to take her on! She can erase the two of you in a second!" She yelled while holding onto her side in pain.

Neku scoffed as the Reaper asked us if we were giving up.

"Don't get my hopes up like that. Killjoy," she sighed before looking at the two of us menacingly. "Now that I'm in the mood…maybe I should just finish the job here and now."

A grin was quickly plastered on her face then and it was creepier looking than menacing. I felt my heart pounding in excitement as the Reaper muttered that she couldn't do that. She folded her arms over her chest then and let out a sigh.

"This is a pickle…Hm…" Her eyes lit up then and I knew that she had a plan thought up. "I know! Let's try something fun! A special bonus challenge just for the boy! If you pull it off, I'll let you out of the Reapers' Game!"

My sudden excitement sank then. I knew just from the way she was talking that she was lying straight to Neku's face. I glanced over to see if he believed her and he did. But no surprise there. Players will believe lots of this stuff, even I would; if I didn't know any better, that is.

"Don't listen, Neku!" Shiki screamed and that was when the Reaper glared at her.

"Shut up! Now, are you in, or are you out?" She asked while smiling mockingly towards the boy.

I knew what he was going to say as I lowered my hands and stepped back so I was leaning against Hachiko once again. Shiki screamed at Neku when he said that he was in.

"Whee! 'Atta boy! Now, let's get started! Oh, I forgot to mention: If you fail, I erase you," She said and I wasn't that surprised because I knew that that was what she had been thinking of the entire time. "Now the rules are very simple. You have one minute to erase both girls."

I opened my mouth to object, only to let it fall in shock and I was sure Shiki was doing the same thing behind us. Neku wouldn't…erase both of us, would he? I so bet he would.

"Just pretend you're erasing the Noise. Whew, this one's already in the bag. All right. Ready? Start!" The Reaper finally screamed and I knew that it was do or die now.

I saw the contemplation Neku's face and I knew that he wasn't happy about doing this at all. My head swam through the possibilities of what could happen if I was able to stop him from killing both of us.

"Here, let me give you an incentive. Your partner? She's been spying for the Reapers. And your so called helper? She'll kill you in a heartbeat if I told her to." I heard the Reaper say.

My thoughts immediately halted and I lifted my head to glare at her for doing that stupid thing.

"Hey! What are you saying?"

"I wouldn't do such a thing even if you begged me to."

The two of us said at the same time.

The Reaper laughed at our remarks before she said, "Thanks for checking in so often. We couldn't have done it without you. And you're always the obedient slave-"

"Shut up! Don't lie! Neku, she's making all of this-!"

"Your phone and your voice. Why do you keep playing with your phone? And why does your voice sound so familiar?" Neku asked the two of us.

We turned to look at him and I frowned. I hadn't known that he would recognize my voice at all. No one usually did.

"She was spying. And she is a manipulator of voices! Neither of them are good at covering it up." The Reaper said.

Shiki yelled that she was not spying and she swore to it. I merely nodded my head.

"Ten more seconds. Just do your things your way, kiddo." She said in a cheery tone.

I knew what was going to happen no matter what we tried to do to persuade Neku to not kill us. I didn't bother listening anymore as I stared at my shoes.

"Don't kill us, Neku…" Shiki whispered.

"I have to." Neku's answer was firm and I put my arms in my skirt pocket.

I didn't care anymore. Let him try to kill me. That was when I felt an invisible hand on my throat. I was lifted into the air and I squeezed my eyes shut from the pain that was being brought on. It was burning in the deepest part of my throat and I couldn't breathe no matter what I tried to do. I opened one eye to see that Shiki was in the same position as I was. I let out a strangled sigh before raising my hand at Neku.

"Y-You kill me…and I k-kill you." I threatened without the intense glare that I should be giving him.


	3. Week One, Day Three: Bats and Darkness

**Week One, Day Three: Bats and Darkness**

**(Author's Note: To MCRDanime's review. I haven't said what Rose looks like completely yet. I know for sure that she is going to be revealed in this chapter though, so no worries! Thank you for the motivation.)  
**

Pain erupted from my chest and the rest of my body before it left me gasping like a fish out of water. I sat up all too quickly and my head began to pound. When I started to reach for it, my eyes opened and I saw total, complete darkness. This confused me long enough to forget about the pain in my head.

"What is this place?" I heard someone say from a ways off.

The voice sounded like it was Neku's, so that was who I figured was inside the room with me. And that meant Shiki was in here with us as well. I kept my mouth shut, even though I knew I should have answered his unasked questions. I figured that if he had had the balls to really kill me and his own partner, he should be left to do whatever he wanted and die.

But even as I thought that, I remembered what had happened and I rubbed my neck, where I knew marks were showing from where the powers of the orange haired teenager and grabbed a hold of me. Even now, I could still feel my heart pounding from the near death experience.

I'm surprised that I had been able to get out alive- or, I should say, I'm glad that the day had ended quick enough. I could still hear Neku talking to himself and then I felt the ground vibrating. He was walking around. That was a scary thing to do when it was in the dark.

Then I realized that I was in the dark. I should have figured it out the minute I woke up and the light wouldn't touch me, but I just didn't think about it at the time. If it was possible, my heart rate doubled in an instant as I tried to calm down. Fear wasn't something that normally got to me at most times. But you'd be afraid if you were stabbed to death in the dark, wouldn't you?

I felt my lungs squeezing the air out of my body and I scrambled to my feet as someone walked across the floor towards Neku, or something of the like. My ears started ringing and I closed my eyes tightly to keep from screaming.

It was all too real now.

I could feel the blade slipping through my ribs and puncturing my heart over and over. My blood was beginning to fall down my sobbing body as the life in it started to-

"Show yourself!"

I heard through my memory that seemed to have taken a life of its own.

Someone else screamed in fright as I opened my eyes while falling back down to my butt. I was able to remember that the person who had yelled was Shiki as Neku made a noise from shock.

"You scared the crap out of me! Don't do that!" The girl screamed once again.

I guessed that the two had found each other through the pitch black. I forced myself to stop thinking of the darkness and to just pretend that I had closed my eyes. Even though that wasn't really working, it made my tense muscles loosen even if it was just a little.

"I scared you? Where the hell have you been?" Neku demanded.

There was a huff that I assumed was Shiki and I could just picture her putting her arms over her chest in a way that said she was only slightly annoyed at her partner.

"It was dark. I was looking for a way out and for Rose! I must've tripped a half a dozen times." She said and I got onto my knees.

I didn't trust myself to open my eyes to the darkness since it was basically my one and only fear. I started crawling towards the voices as Shiki told Neku that pins only worked when they fought Noise.

"With a few exceptions of course." She muttered and I knew what she was talking about.

Psychokinesis was one of those exceptions. Both of them knew that as well and I was able to get a few inches from where I had been sitting when there was a squeak practically in front of my face. I unwittingly opened my eyes and came face to face with something large and two glowing blood red irises.

I felt my own eyes widen as it squeaked lightly once again.

"Why didn't you leave if you found-?"

"I'm not going anywhere without you and Rose. We're not that useless, right?"

Shiki snickered as I forced myself to cover my eyes. There was no way that I was going to scream. I would not do something as stupid as scream in the dark with things that I didn't know about.

"Huh! Which one of us has been acting dumb?" She said with a mocking tone in her voice.

She didn't have to say anymore than that. I knew what she was talking about. And Neku did as well.

* * *

_"What are you waiting for? Do what comes naturally. Save yourself and screw everybody else, right?" The Reaper said with a malicious grin on her face._

_I looked at her with a glare before turning towards Neku from where I stood against Hachiko. It was getting harder to stay where I was. Any minute now and I'd collapse from pain and fatigue._

_"Don't Neku. Don't kill us…" Shiki said softly like she had been doing for several seconds._

_I hadn't said a word because I knew that despite whatever we could say, he'd do it. I would have done it if it meant getting out of the Reapers Game. I felt a hand grab onto my throat and I knew that Neku was going to kill his partner and me. I couldn't breathe anymore and I struggled to lift my hand. Two people could play at what the Reaper was doing._

_"K-Kill me...and I k-kill you." I warned. But my threat fell on deaf ears._

_I knew the second I had been lifted into the air with no hesitation. I heard the Reaper laughing and I could have sworn she was a masochist in that very moment._

_"That's good! Let's see some results!" She cheered._

_I started to see black dots in my vision when I heard someone yell towards us, though my pounding ears didn't catch the words._

_"Who are you?" The Reaper questioned, obviously annoyed that someone had just ruined her favorite time of the day._

_I looked over but never lowered my hand to see a blurry shape of a man as he looked at the pink haired girl._

_"Ah-ah-ah, sister. You gotta play by the rules. Making 'erase your partner and friend' the mission is a clear violation." He said in a cheery tone._

_That seemed to wake Neku up. He looked towards the elder man as the Reaper glared at him. I knew Shiki's partner was in shock as I smirked lightly._

_"I know that. I was just having a little postgame fun." The Reaper said._

_This made Neku yell at her. I heard the older man say that one mission a day was the rule before my ears started to ring. I finally lowered my hand and grabbed at the psychic hand that was holding onto me._

_"I know the Game Master chooses the mission! But I'm not the Game Master. Which means this wasn't a mission, which means I didn't break any rules!" The Reaper yelled once again._

_She was nearly at the boiling point. Even if I couldn't see her anymore, I knew that there was a vein popping on the side of her head. Most people, even them, got that. I heard the man tell her to start walking away then._

_"For a Player, you know a lot about our rules." She said._

_It surprised me when Neku screamed that he had been tricked._

_"You lied about letting me out of the Game!" He yelled then._

_The Reaper turned towards him just as I began forcing my powers on the psychic hand that held me._

_"Like, that is so rude! I do not lie. If I erased you, that's still letting you out of the Game!" She whined before sighing, "Ugh, you totally ruined all my fun. Time to call it a day. We can play some more another time." _

_knew when she walked away and I felt the psychic hand release me, but not because of me. Neku had been the one to let it go. I hit the ground on my back and gasped for much needed air. And I thought getting stabbed to death was horrible._

_"Thank you so much. We owe you our lives Mister…um…" Shiki said after she had regained her own air as well._

_I managed to sit up when I noticed that my blood was beginning to bleed out of me again. I ignored them though as I tuned into the conversation._

_"Sanae Hanekoma. Think of me as a sort of…guardian. I watch the Game to make sure shady types don't start bendin' the rules." He said to us, though it was mostly to the partners and not me._

_I doubted that any of them remembered that I was still here, beginning to bleed to death. If only that would be true._

_"You mean she tricked you." I heard Hanekoma say to Neku._

_I smirked a little while trying to get up, though I had a feeling that that was not going to work for me no matter what. And that was what exactly happened. Pain soared through my body and I stopped trying to get up and move. There was no way that was going to happen._

_"You ignored both ladies, fell into a trap, and very nearly snuffed them for good." I heard the older man say._

_There was no reply that came from the orange haired teenager this time._

_"If you think you can do everything yourself, you're in for some hard lessons. Now! Apologize to both ladies!" Mr. Hanekoma then said. _

_It surprised me just as much as it seemed to surprise Neku because he said something to the man as I looked up at the kid. I knew that Shiki and I deserved the apologies because we were the ones that had tried to make him not kill us. Of course, I did threaten the boy. But that's different. I thought I was going to die. I would have brought down the Reaper if I thought she'd come with me._

_"Hard feelings don't make for good teamwork. If you want to survive, I suggest you do as he says." I said to Neku._

_He glared down at the ground but I knew he was thinking about his options at this very moment. I didn't say anymore as Shiki and I waited expectantly for our sorries. It took him several seconds of staring into our eyes before he finally muttered apologies to the both of us._

_"Neku…I, um…F-Forget it. I'm over it. I mean, you didn't…She made you do it, right? And we should've stood up for ourselves better!" She told him._

_I looked up at her with an expression that said she was the only one that thought that. I turned to stare at Neku and I saw that he wasn't even glancing down at me to see if I was okay. That was fine by me._

_"I defended myself just fine. If you decided to actually kill us though, I'm sure you figured out that I would have brought you down with," I rubbed the back of my head mid sentence, "We can just put it behind the three of us."_

_Luckily, no one decided to call me out on the fact that I hadn't told them what the Reaper meant when she had been talking about my voice. That made me pretty relieved. I didn't want to talk about that at the moment._

_"There! Problem solved! Now, you two partners listen up," said two turned to look at Mr. Hanekoma, "There's only one way to stay alive in this Shibuya: Trust your partner! Phones, that goes for you especially."_

_I grinned at the nickname that was beginning to catch onto Neku. It seemed a lot of people wanted to call him Phones instead of his real name. I heard him mutter the nickname in slight annoyance with a scratch to the back of his head._

_"You know what trust is, right? Partnership is essential to surviving the Game. Alone, you face limitations," I felt the eyes of everyone on me at that point, "But partner up, and you can smash right through them. Same goes for when you fight the Noise. When you think you're alone, you're actually not. Your partner is in the other zone sharing your energy. That means you gotta sync up and send it back and forth."_

_I realized that his words weren't for me anymore. I took that time to block out the conversation and heal the wounds that were still bleeding. I put one hand over a bite on my calf and poured energy into that one. Soon, I had most tiny marks sealed and close and I worked on the deep claw mark on my right thigh._

_"Understand…me? I want to understand me, too…But I don't." That was Neku's voice slipping through my closed ears._

_I blinked out of my trance like state and lifted my head to stare up at the three that still hadn't noticed that I was bleeding all over the floor, even though it wasn't as bad now._

_"I can't remember anything but my name. I woke up in the intersection with no clue how I got there. No clue why I'm part of this stupid Game. I don't know anything because I can't remember…anything." Neku said._

_I felt my heart sink in sympathy for the poor teenager. I hadn't known that he had no memories of what happened before the Game started. It surprised me a lot._

_"Sorry to hear that, boss. That's rough." Hanekoma said with just as much sympathy as I felt. I nodded to myself in agreement there._

* * *

"I still say you should have told me and Rose sooner that you lost your memory." Shiki muttered.

I didn't hear Neku's remark but I was guessing it had something to do about the memory once again.

"It did strike me as kind of strange that you knew nothing about Shibuya or the Game." She then said.

I heard the squeak again and this time, I felt something touch the top of my head. I froze in fear while at the same time, Shiki's cell phone beeped for a message and mine did the same.

"Waah! That almost gave me a heart attack!" She yelled as something clattered to the ground and I suspected that it was her phone.

I reached for my phone as Shiki started screaming not to touch her phone. I flipped open mine and peeled one of my eyes open just enough to see the words:

_**Defeat the master of A-East. You have three hundred and sixty minutes. Fail, and face erasure. –The Reapers.**_

"A concert space? Why" I whispered before quietly shutting my phone.

That was when something sharp touched my chest, right where my scars were from being stabbed. It hit me with a squeak and I couldn't hold back my scream any longer. The noise came rushing out and the thing that had been harassing me finally started smacking me in the face with whatever it had used to touch me.

I felt my heart pounding in fear as I tore free from whatever was messing with me. I scrambled backwards until I collided with a boney object. I was able to figure out it was a leg and I snatched it up with my arms wrapped around tightly. I didn't care if it was Shiki or Neku; whatever had scared me got me really bad.

"Rose? Is that you?" I heard the female ask me and I could feel my hands shaking violently.

Tears sprung to the edges of my eyes but I forced them to not fall. Crying was for the weak. And I was not weak; just scared out of my mind. I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder and I immediately latched onto that hand with as much force I could exhibit without breaking bones.

"I need out…" I pleaded softly as the pain in my chest began throbbing.

She asked me what I meant and I shook my head while closing my eyes. It was hard to talk through everything that I was feeling, but I could manage.

"Get me out of here!" I screamed again.

I felt another hand grab my shoulder and I was quickly dragged away from the thing that had been touching me. I wasn't able to get to my feet even if I wanted to, so I had to be lifted just so I was hurriedly rushed out. I held onto the person holding me as tightly as I could as I struggled to keep from crying and screaming in pain.

"At least we know you're still traveling with us, Rose." I heard Shiki say to me.

I said nothing to her as I felt sunlight pour down on me. My screaming muscles began to relax then but I didn't release who held me. It scared me to do so.

"What happened in there?" I heard the girl ask me.

I was finally able to open my eyes and turn my head to stare at her. I knew from the look on her face that she saw red eyes because of unshed tears. I almost answered her when the stabbing pain in my chest got worse. I sealed my eyes shut for a second before opening them again. I breathed deeply several times before I was able to force the killing motions away. That was the only time I was able to answer her inquiry.

"I…I'm scared…of the dark." I admitted, even though it was a very humiliating thing to come clean about.

You'd think singers and musicians feared not being able to sing or do the things that they loved. But I was scared of the dark because of the traumatic experience of dying. How sad was that?

"How can you be scared of the dark? There's nothing there to be scared of." Neku's voice grumbled against my right ear.

That was when I looked up and saw that the person who I was holding onto the entire time in the dark had been him. A blush that I couldn't stop appeared before I was dropped, as if he had realized what he was doing. I was able to recover my last missing pieces of my sanity before I glared up at him.

"If you knew what I knew, you'd be afraid of the dark as well." I muttered while pressing a hand against my heart, where the scars were.

They weren't hurting now, but I knew that if I went back into that dark place, everything would happen all over again. I didn't want that at all. Shiki made a gasping noise and the two of us looked up at her in confusion.

"What?" Neku groaned.

She looked towards us and I saw that in her eyes, she knew something that we didn't. I lifted my eyes to stare at the scenery around us. There was something that looked like a stage behind us and that was when my mouth fell open.

"We're, um…here, heh heh." Shiki said and it took Neku a second to realize what she was talking about.

I, on the other hand, had known what she was saying when I saw the stage door behind us.

"We were inside A-East the whole time? You know-"

"How was I supposed to tell? They had off all the lights!"

She cut Neku off with a wave of her hands. I only shook my head and slowly got to my feet.

"At least you're ahead of the schedule. There's no point in griping over it," I said before jerking my head back to signal the dark stage door behind us, "I think you two can defeat that master on your own as well."

I was stared at in confusion by the two of them. The look in my eye told them everything that I wouldn't openly say:

I'm afraid of the dark; do you really think I'll go back in there?

"But…we don't even know where it is…"

"It was too dark to see anything inside." The two of them told me at the exact same time.

I rolled my eyes annoyingly while brushing back a strand of my white hair. It was starting to get to a very long length; that meant I should cut it soon.

"Then you better turn on the lights. You'll be tripping over the master instead of defeating it." I said to them.

That was when I got some withering looks that made me glare at them. But I had only stated what I thought was the obvious. The two teenagers would trip over in the darkness without the lights. I finally heard Neku ask how we restored the power to the lights then.

"I don't know. I'm not a know it all, but I expect that it would be a wise choice in finding someone that knows A-East better than the three of us." I chided before walking away from the two.

I knew that they were going to go on their own to see what they could find so I headed around the area since none of us could go anywhere. That was when I noticed a shop that caught my eye. Its name was odd, but I knew that franchise well enough.

"I should get a new outfit anyway. Noise is always destroying this skirt and shirt." I muttered and I glanced at the name of the shop again.

It said Lapin Angelique, which I thought had a sort of foreign ring to it at the moment. I started to step into the store when someone grabbed my arm.

"Rose! We can't be seen even if you went to get some clothes!" Shiki told me.

I turned towards her in a frown.

"Mr. Hanekoma said that any shop with that symbol," I pointed towards a red skull and cross bones outlined in black, "We can go into and buy what we want. Food as well."

I then began peeling her fingers off of my arm. I walked into the shop and one of the assistants noticed. She walked towards me in a gothic outfit and smiled innocently and politely.

"How can Princess K be of assistance?" She questioned.

I could see from the almost completely hidden look in her eyes that she wasn't that thrilled to see someone like me with ripped and shredded clothes. But that didn't bother me.

"I'd like one shirt with arm warmers, a red two-tier skirt, and ribbon shoes- in a dark purple if you have them." I told her.

The assistant nodded happily before she dragged me towards a pile of clothes that were neatly hanged. We passed that until we were at the changing rooms.

"Princess K will go get the clothes you wished for. Princess K won't be long!" She told me.

I nodded absently before shutting my booth. I heard her platform shoes clomp away from me and I looked at the mirror that was in the booth with me. I hadn't seen the way I looked in a long time, so it came as a shock that my hair was cascading down to my upper back.

It was as white as snow and my eyes were a ultra bright blue that was obviously unnatural. I had a necklace that held only a fingernail sized red ruby that sparkled if you hit it just right.

"I need a haircut…" I muttered just as the clothes I wanted was tossed over the door to me.

I called out a thank you before stripping out of my ruined outfit and I shuffled into the new one. I had imagined the red two tier-skirt to be too short for me so I kept on my worn black leggings, which I was thankful for since I had been right. When I got everything on, I looked at myself in the mirror one more time. My shirt was entirely black with a red tie attached to it and the arm warmers were also that cauldron color; the red two-tier had black underneath it, and the dark purple ribbon boots I wanted.

It went really great with my pale complexion, white hair, and blue eyes. I walked out of the booth to see that the assistant was smiling in approval at me.

"You look gorgeous, if I may say so! Come, I'll figure out the price for you and toss out these…clothes." I sensed the disgust in her voice at the mention of my destroyed fabrics.

I shrugged my shoulders while picking them up. I then followed the assistant and I noticed that Neku and Shiki were outside, talking to a guy with spiked up blonde hair with a bad ass rock star attitude. I heard the gothic woman tell me how much yen my total was and I absently took out the money and gave it to her, but not once did my eyes look away from the two.

I took the receipt and then rushed out of the shop while saying thank you to her. I stomped towards them and saw that the blonde haired male full on. I knew instantly who that person was as I pushed between Neku and Shiki.

"Triple Seven? What are you doing here?" I exclaimed, knowing immediately after those words that I had practically blown my secret about being the singer that died.

The girl took a moment to realize that I was talking about thee Triple Seven. She immediately gasped and pointed at him.

"You mean like Triple Seven 'Def March' vocalist and rising superstar Triple Seven!" She screamed.

He looked at both of us but his eyes lingered on me for a fraction more of a second than he had done for Shiki. I knew that they would notice as he tried to act all innocent while smirking.

"Yeah, that's the one. We're still totally indie. But one day, we're gonna start a rock revolution like the-" He suddenly stopped talking and scrunched his eyebrows together.

I didn't know what was going on before he suddenly let out a big cough from behind his hand. Another one grumpily came out and Shiki flinched back while asking if he was okay.

"It's fine, my throat's just sore. I had to shout a lot during load-in. It's hard to get anything set up without the tech." Ah, that was what was wrong.

Triple Seven's technician was AWOL. That didn't surprise me. I remember a time when I had a tech that had gone and done the same thing. It's a pain in the ass when stuff like that happens.

"You can rehearse if we find your man?" Neku asked, stating the obvious.

I only rolled my eyes a little as the older man said that it was either that or calling off the show. And that was never a fun thing to do to fans that waited a long time to get to see you.

"So, will you see if you can find him?" The Triple Seven band member asked.

I hadn't been here for the entire explanation but I managed to sum up some of it: Technician was missing. No lights in the band space- which had been the place we came out of the first time, go figure. Find tech and get lights on. We'll be able to destroy the master in the light and I wouldn't be a child!

"We really do want to help, but…Do we even have time?" Shiki asked while looking towards the both of us.

I gave her an expression that basically told her that she was an idiot for even questioning the fact that we really should help Triple Seven. Neither of them seemed to realize that the master was in the space that we had come out of. So I quickly answered before Neku could say no- which I figured he would.

"Yes! We will definitely help you."

"What? We will!" Shiki screamed, while the orange haired teenager frowned down at me.

I glanced up at him with a glare that told him to think about his words because I was not in the mood to have any arguments.

"Yes, we will." I declared once again.

Triple Seven's face immediately lit up and he grinned down at me while rubbing the top of my white head. I looked up at him from under my bangs in annoyance, but he was really happy, it seemed.

"Thanks, Rose! You rock! If you see him, just tell him to haul it back to A-East. I'll be here waiting." He said, as if it hadn't been enough that I had already blown out my secret.

But I pretended not to notice as I turned and walked away. Shiki and Neku followed as the girl giggled.

"Stop it." I grumbled.

"I'm sorry-" No she wasn't. "-I've just never seen you act as nice as just now." She told me.

That made me freeze for one second. She still didn't get why I really told Triple Seven yes. I turned on my heel and gave her a look that asked if she was being serious.

"Once the technician comes back, he can turn on the lights." I grumbled.

Her eyes lit up just like the band member had done. She praised me by saying how brilliant my idea was. I shook my head and chose not to give Shiki a reply.

"Plus, that Triple Seven guy? He's a-"

"Now we can help Triple Seven and finish the mission!" She said.

Both Neku and I sighed as I pressed my hand against my forehead. It was better just to let her think that that was true. She was going to be shocked by the outcome either way.

"Forget it. Let's just find a way to get out of A-East so we can find that technician." I muttered.

I looked around to see what direction would be the best to go in and I figured that since we were here, we might as well head on over to the opposite place that I had gone shopping at. I walked to the left and the two followed me with barely any words. Funny how death came make you nearly silent. We walked until I noticed the red Reaper and I grinned while stopping.

"Hey, do you guys want to try out that white pin that Mr. Hanekoma gave you? I'm sure it will be worthwhile." I told them while making a head gesture towards the Reaper that I had noticed.

Shiki looked like she just remembered that they had been handed that pin and she looked towards Neku as I waited for their answer. But they were taking a bit longer than I was happy for.

"Come on, Phones. If you don't want to use that pin yet, just say so and let me destroy all of the Noise that he's going to give us." I remarked and this made both of them look towards me once again.

Neku didn't seem entirely happy that I had used the nickname that Mr. Hanekoma and the other Players were using on him, but that didn't bother me. I hardly cared that he hated that name.

"Yeah, we'll try out the pin, Rose. You can sit this one out and watch to make sure we're doing it right." Shiki said, saving me from having to yell at the teenage boy once again for not giving me the answer that I had been looking for.

I absently nodded in her direction before walking towards the Reaper. He looked over at me as I stopped in front of them.

"We want to get through the wall. Those two are going to fight your Noise." I said to him.

But the Reaper didn't say a word, so I glared at him and stepped away. I watched Neku and Shiki walk towards the Reaper and I leaned against the wall close enough to see them fight but not close enough to get caught in the attacks the Noise would send to me.

"Okay, here we go!" The girl said before there was a flash of white light by the blank pin and I saw Noise start attacking them.

I took out my Player Pin and tossed it into the air before catching it. My senses became hyperaware but before they fully developed, I flipped the pin once again. All of a sudden, my eyesight became jumbled up and only my left eye saw Neku fighting and Shiki was in my right eye. I didn't seem to freak out as I watched a green ball of light dance around the girl before it sailed towards the boy in the opposite dimension.

"You're sharing the light puck, Phones. I hope you remember that, or else you'll be killed on the spot." I called out to him when he didn't send it back towards Shiki.

I heard him yell at me to stop calling him that stupid nickname but I ignored him and blinked my eyes three times quickly. As if it had never happened, the two dimensions that I had seen became one again and the only person I could see was Neku. The Noise were soon destroyed after that and Shiki reappeared beside her partner. I walked towards them as the Reaper told us that the wall was down thanks to the completed objective.

"You saw the green light, Rose? I thought only partners could do that!" Shiki said to me.

I looked at her from the corner of my eye with a scoff.

"Remember what he said? You were asking about me." I said.

* * *

_"So, do you guys have any more questions? Perhaps more about my blood type and my cafe?" Mr. Hanekoma asked us._

_I shook my head once. Hearing all about his personal life was more than I was willing to take. I wanted to know nothing more than I needed about this man._

_"Actually…Do you know Rose? I mean, who she is and everything." I heard Shiki say._

_My head looked up at the mention of my name and my bright blue eyes glared towards her in annoyance, and what they thought was a hidden threat under it all._

_"Well…As you might have already figured out, Ro isn't a normal Player," Mr. Hanekoma started and I met everyone's looks with a glare._

_"Yeah, we found that out the first day. She doesn't have a partner. How is it that she's still alive?" Shiki asked._

_I took that instant to get to my feet since my body was feeling better after I had healed it as much as I could with all the strength I was able to manage._

_"I don't need a partner. My powers and strength can't be shared with just anyone. I met the two of you on accident, because I intended to use Neku." I said while crossing my arms over my chest._

_It showed I wasn't all that happy that Shiki was trying to get information someone about me, when I was standing right there. But she didn't seem to care._

_"That's right! Little Ro here is too strong to have a partner, so she was told to find someone that could survive and not be blown away by those powers. Of course, she wouldn't just pick any random lad she found roaming Shibuya. She sought out the first strong energy level that she woke up beside." Mr. Hanekoma said and I glared at him from where he stood._

_He had no right to tell anyone that that was what I had been doing on the first day. Even if they wanted to know who I was._

_"It's why she can see what most singles can't! And what only partners can." My glare deepened then._

* * *

"That's right! And what's with that nickname he called you? It seems like it's stuck like Neku's Phones." Shiki said to me.

I sighed while pinching the bridge of my nose, an act that I usually didn't do anymore.

"Mr. Hanekoma enjoys that stupid little name of mine too much. Though I don't mind it at times, that was not the most appropriate way for you two to find out." I said while walking towards Dogenzaka.

Shiki called for me to come back but I didn't listen, so she and Neku followed me. They remained quiet for a few minutes as we entered Dogenzaka, but that didn't last all that long.

"So…where do you think the tech could have gone?" Shiki questioned the two of us.

Her partner glanced at the girl as he tried to come up with an answer. I looked back at the two of them while crossing my arms over my chest.

"Don't bother asking me anything that involves the mission. I'm just going to Ramen Don to get something to eat." I said to the two of them.

Both looked at me in surprise- though it was mostly from the girl -and I couldn't help but break out into a smirk.

"I'm not going to remind you of the deal that we made the first day. I should have stopped yesterday; but I didn't. Now, I just want to be left alone and eat some ramen." I said to them while brushing a hand through my hair.

Once again, I thought of cutting all the hair that was nearly clumped up in the back of my body. Not that I hated long hair or anything, I just didn't like how it felt against my clothes. I walked into the ramen shop thinking that and I almost ran into someone in front of me because I hadn't been paying attention. Thankfully, Shiki caught my forearm just in time.

"Screw the concert! I don't see why they can't hire another tech." The person I almost hit said.

I blinked in surprise as the other two did the same. I sighed to myself before pinching the bridge of my nose.

"And here I thought I would actually get peace and quiet…" I muttered to myself.

Shiki whispered something to Neku and I could only assume it was about the guy that was talking about hiring another tech and skipping out on the concert.

"Guess the tech is on strike." The orange haired teen said to the two of us.

I chuckled a little before listening to the tech saying that he had what he called 'stage presence.' I looked up at him at those words and took in his black tank top, blue jeans, and tied back brown hair. I put a hand over my lips to silence a laugh that wanted to come out.

"Yeah, he's got the stage presence of a fish. He'd definitely be rock star material." I said with a bite of sarcasm.

I noticed Shiki turn to stare at me with wide eyes and I pretended not to notice. I usually wasn't so mean with my words, but when someone begins saying that they want to be a performer and they don't have what it takes, I can't help but get nasty. I hate people who think like that.

"Well, just remember, son. The future is a clean slate, and you're the chalk!" The ramen guy turned to grab some ramen behind the counter and the tech sighed while shuffling passed the three of us. "Now have a hot bowl of ramen and cheer…up? Where'd he go?"

I sighed with a shake of my head and I walked towards the counter with a soft smile on my face. He noticed me as I pulled out several hundred yen from my pockets.

"Don't worry; I'll have some of this tasty ramen instead. I'm nearly starved." I said and the elderly man smiled brightly and handed me the bowl of steaming ramen.

The smell wafting up to me made me almost melt in my seat. If there was one thing that I loved beyond being a singer, it was old fashioned ramen. Almost nothing can beat that. I took the first sip of noodles before I remembered Neku and Shiki, who were still talking to each other. I spun around in my seat but held the bowl in one hand and the other held the chopsticks and some noodles.

"In case you guys didn't notice, the tech left about three minutes ago." I told them before taking another long sip of the noodles.

I got cries of shock from both of them as I picked up the slice of beef that was in the broth and snake noodles. I heard Neku screaming that he was going to drag the damn tech back to A-East if he had to. I tried to keep from smirking as I put the meat in my mouth.

"Rose, are you-?"

"I already said that I wasn't helping you guys after the second day. I don't intend to go back on that promise." I interrupted while turning back towards the counter.

I was beginning to enjoy my meal when someone picked me up by the waist tightly. I was hoisted off of my stool as the chopsticks fell out of my hand. I turned my head to see that it was Neku that had grabbed me and I began squirming to get free with my hands pressed against his arms.

"The hell are you doing? Let me go!" I screamed while kicking my legs back and forth.

The ramen man just stared at us in surprise as I was forced out of the ramen shop, leaving a half-finished bowl of steaming ramen. I was out in the sun again when I was dropped onto my butt. I spun around and rested on my knees to glare up at the orange teen.

"I told you that I wasn't going to help you anymore!" I growled before getting to my feet.

Shiki watched with weary eyes and I could understand why. If you had the power to blow things up with just your hands without needing to touch someone, I'd be glancing at them too.

"You're a Player too. That means you need to be-"

"You didn't need to go and carry my ass out here! Last I checked, you weren't one that wanted to get involved with other people." I yelled.

My sudden explosion of words caused Shiki to stare down at me with amusement. I glared up at her with a look that demanded her to tell me what she was thinking. She suddenly giggled and smiled brightly.

"That's the first time you've ever had so much emotion in your voice, Rose! I didn't know you did anger." She said to me before giggling some more.

I couldn't help but scoff and turn my head so I didn't have to stare at the girl and her partner. I never thought that someone like these two would bring my anger out, of all the people that I met in my short life. I felt a light blush rising on my cheeks so I turned completely away from the two.

"For ruining my meal, the two of you will have to suffer through with me for the rest of the week. And I won't make it easy for you to complete the missions." I said to them before pulling out my Player Pin.

I flipped it just once and I looked around me to see what the tech was thinking. But I couldn't read his mind. I instead noticed a bright orange Noise floating around his body like it was on drugs. I smirked to myself while flipping my pin once again to get rid of all the thoughts Shibuya's people had to offer.

"I'll tell you right now that we're not getting the tech anywhere anytime soon also." I said while turning back towards the two.

They stared at me in confusion but they looked at the technician to see if they could see what I saw. Sure enough, I knew from the surprised expression on Neku's face that he had seen exactly what I saw.

"H-He's surrounded by Noise!" He cried and Shiki looked at the adult to confirm what had already been voiced.

She screamed something about being possessed and I smirked to myself while stuffing my Player Pin back in my pocket.

"Should we…erase the Noise surrounding him?" Shiki questioned to herself.

I smirked while crossing my arms and I started to open my mouth to make up a good lie when Neku bumped passed me and started attacking the Noise without answering. I glared to show that I wasn't happy but I couldn't object as a wolf Noise lunged at me. I swung a hand up and blasted the animal from the inside out.

I saw one bear coming at me with its clawed paw and I jumped as high as I could go. I managed to land on the top of its head with my hands and it spun in circles trying to find me. I pushed off its cranium and smacked it directly in the face with both of my feet. The shock of the attack knocked the Noise to the ground and I brought one hand to its face. The entire creature blew up instantly and I hopped away to land beside Neku and Shiki.

"How is it that you almost never get a mark?" The girl asked and I looked up at her with a smirk that was on the mocking side.

"I control a very special type of psych. I might tell you about it one day. Or even show you for that matter. For now we'll say I'm very light on my feet." I said while seeing the technician run passed us, screaming that he was late.

We noticed when he rounded the corner where A-East lurked and I popped one of my arms.

"That was pretty weird on how he snapped out of those negative emotions once we got rid of the Noise." Shiki commented.

Neku nodded as I listened to them in silence. I couldn't believe that I had struck another deal with these guys. I had meant to leave once they headed back out for A-East and I got my fill of ramen. Stupid me for thinking I wouldn't get dragged back into this.

"What about when the Noise erased the people that they attacked?" I suddenly heard and I realized I had missed almost all of the conversation.

I still knew that they were talking about Noise so I guess that was a good thing, but I couldn't provide an answer if I didn't know the subject's contents.

"Well, either way, they're not good for you! If we see anyone else possessed, let's get rid of the Noise for them." Shiki suggested and I couldn't help myself but to smirk again.

I grabbed the wrist of both teens and they looked at me questioningly, which I didn't bother to acknowledge.

"If we want to get to A-East in time, I think it would be better if we started heading that way." I said mockingly.

I walked forward without another word and the two were forced to let me drag them the entire way back to A-East, where Triple Seven and the technician stood.

"What the hell do you mean the stage lighting's busted! How're we gonna rehearse- No, how're we gonna play the show?" The singer screamed.

I crinkled my nose when I heard his voice bouncing off of the walls around me. That could not be good for his throat at all. He wasn't going to have a fun time at the concert if he kept this up.

"I've got a repairman working on it. That's why I was out- to pick up a part he needed." The tech quickly said, probably because the wrath of an angry singer was something that he didn't want.

Triple Seven seemed to get happier as he asked if that meant they were ready to start rocking.

"Huh?" He was asked.

Cue dramatic shift of emotions from the singer.

"You've got the part, right?" He asked in a deep, menacing tone that even made me shiver.

The tech started stuttering things out that I couldn't hear and Triple Seven lost his cool- well, what he had left. He screamed at the technician to go get the part and to move his ass. He scampered off with a squeak then and I just couldn't help myself when I smirked.

"If that's the best example of stage presence, I'd hate to see when he freaks out." I muttered to no one in particular.

I noticed Triple Seven walking towards us with a smile on his face then. His eyes found me first when he came within speaking distance.

"Domo arigato for findin' the tech, Rose!" He said while clamping a hand down on the top of my head.

I frowned up at him as Shiki thanked him and asked if there was anything else that was wrong. The older man sighed but didn't pull his hand off of my head.

"Yeah, it sounds like our lighting's on the fritz. The guy just left to hunt for a replacement part," I noticed him rub his throat where sores were more than likely beginning to hurt him again. "I've been shouting all day long. Damn throat's killing me." He muttered.

I watched him with my unnaturally bright blue eyes as he continued rubbing his throat. I felt so sorry for the guy. I couldn't tell you how many times my throat hurt from singing at the top of my lungs at concerts, even though I should have been used to them long ago.

"Seven," I said to him and everyone looked at me. "Warm honey and some drops of alcohol work wonders on your throat. Just make sure they're mixed together and nearly scald your tongue."

He and the other teenagers watched me in shock as I spoke those words. I hadn't wanted to help him out with that sore throat of his, but I knew what it felt like and how to fix it. I couldn't just let him go on hurting when I knew how to make it better, even just a little. Triple Seven smiled down at me and started rubbing my head like I was a dog.

"Gee, I didn't think you'd remember something like that Rose! Remind me to thank you one of these days if it works!" He said to me.

I jerked my head free and frowned up at him. He acted like he didn't notice as I turned to face the other two, only to find that they were shocked at what was going on.

"Just who are you?" Shiki struggled to ask me.

I stared at her for what felt like a hundred years before I walked away from her. She and Neku chased after me and demanded that I answer them. I spun around the instant we came to one of the red clothed Reapers.

"You demand to know who I am; when I hardly know anything about the two of you besides a brain dead boy and a girl that uses a stuffed cat to fight? Why should I explain who I am when we'll be leaving in four days?" I asked the two of them.

Shiki stared at me for several seconds in confusion as Neku tugged lightly at a strand of his hair. Neither had the answer to my last question. I knew they wouldn't, though. I snorted and turned towards the Reaper.

"Show me the Noise and I'll destroy it here and now." I demanded.

The Noise was quickly given out and destroyed all in three blinks of the eye. I turned towards the two with a scowl on my face after the wall was cleared.

"Go on ahead. I'm going to cool down standing here waiting for you two." I said to them sternly.

I hoped that they understood that arguing with me was no the safest thing to do at the moment as they both stared at me. I kept from looking away until I knew that they would listen to me. And finally, when I couldn't take any more of it, Shiki smiled and grabbed Neku's hand.

"Sure! Just promise to stay here and wait for us, Rose!" She called before racing off to Shibukyu section of Shibuya.

I watched them leave and when they were out of sight, I smirked to myself while shaking my head lightly.

"Oh boy, you don't understand me at all, do you? I don't make deals like that." I said to the air.

I stayed where I stood for another thirty seconds before I walked over to Triple Seven, who had somehow found some honey that was evidently warm and a bottle of what looked like butterscotch alcohol.

"I believe that I told you the honey and the alcohol need to be mixed together before you drank it." I commented dryly, causing the singer to jump and drop the bottle.

He yelled a curse as the bottle began to smash against the concrete ground. I quickly raised my hands and the alcohol stopped just as the bottom of it touched the ground. I knew that I had narrowly saved the drink as I let out a slow breath while lifting it up through the air and back into Triple Seven's hand. When he had a secure hand on it, I lowered my arms with a soft sigh.

"Thanks for that, Rose. You almost scared me out of my wits!" He exclaimed.

I shook my head and crossed my arms. Now that I wasn't around the other two, I could freely act the way that I was known for in my old singer ways.

"That's what you get for giving them the idea of who I am. You know that I don't like that." My attitude included. Triple Seven sighed just a little while rubbing his throat again.

"You could have just voiced your thoughts before." He muttered.

I put a hand against my forehead with a look of annoyance on my face. It seemed to him that he didn't understand the fact that I didn't want Neku and Shiki to actually know who I was by word of mouth.

"I have to keep a different persona for those two. If they found out who I used to be, do you understand how it will feel to have them talk about my death? I don't want to be around when they discover that, so I want to keep on the low levels with them." I said to Triple Seven.

He nodded slowly as if he truly understood and I hoped that he did. With that said, I reached towards the honey and the alcohol. Thankfully, a mug had been produced by the singer and I poured some of the butterscotch into it. I then squeezed the honey into the mixture as well and when it was done to my satisfaction, I handed it back to him.

"There, that should help fix your throat. Just be sure to warm it up until it-"

"Burns your tongue, I know. I'll thank you if I see you again and it works." Triple Seven said to me.

I nodded and was about to talk some more when I heard my name being called. I turned my head to see that Neku and Shiki were running towards me and the other singer.

"Yes?" I drawled out to show impatience.

They stopped when they were close enough to us that they didn't have to shout for my attention any more.

"We're going back to Dogenzaka! The tech just ran off to get the fuse." Shiki said while grabbing my wrist.

Before I could speak, she was pulling me towards where the ramen shop had been. Triple Seven acted like he hadn't noticed as I was forced to follow the two Players.

"Look! He just went inside! We better hurry!" The girl cried.

I was once again yanked around like a dog on a chain and I couldn't pull free at the moment as we ran into one of the shops that had the skull symbol on it. We had just gotten inside when I noticed that the tech was saying lots of things that involved saving his life.

He sped past us without another word and I was surprised that he hadn't barreled into one of us.

"Looks like he finally bought what it was that he needed." I commented.

I earned a nod from both teens as Neku voiced that the lights were probably being fixed. We hurried back and along the way, I was told that they had met up with Beat and Rhyme, who had explained to them that they could use their phones to 'imprint' thoughts on the people in the RG, or Real Ground.

It basically tells the people thoughts that suddenly pop up unexpectedly and it gives them new ideas. That's what I understood of it. We got back to A-East to find the tech running into the concert stage and I knew what the two beside me were thinking:

Time to get the master.

When Shiki started pulling me to the dark space, I froze and dug my heels into the ground. She stumbled before turning towards me to see that I was adamant about not going back in there. Neku noticed as well and I saw him glaring at me.

"There's going to be lights on in the stage, Rose. It'll be okay!" She tried to comfort me.

I scoffed and pulled myself back from the stage even further. There was no way I was going back in that darkness. Not even if hell froze over in this instant.

"I'm not going in there. It's too dark." I said to them while jerking my hand free from the girl.

Neku, who looked like he was about to blow, walked towards the two of us slowly. I knew that he was planning something but I couldn't let myself think about it because Shiki reached out for me again.

"The light should be on though! Doesn't that count for anything?" She asked when I had jumped back from her.

I glared at the ground in front of me before taking a deep breath and closing my eyes. I had forgotten the lights would be on before we got inside the stage. But what if they didn't come on? That thought sent me spiraling back into my fear and I quickly shook my head. I started to take a step back when Neku, who had gotten closer to me, grabbed my arm tightly.

I tried to pull away as he dragged me inside the concert stage. "I'm not having the mission ruined just because of a little scare." He grumbled while pulling me inside.

I started screaming to be let go but it was no use, seeing as no matter how loud they became, the purple headphones muffled them. I knew when I was in the darkness just an inch and my eyes clenched themselves closed tightly and I reached out to grab Neku. My hands found the arm to the hand that held me and they brought the limb to my chest. I stuffed my face into his sleeve to hide myself from the darkness, though it was a silly notion to think that was possible. My heart was beating so fast that I knew the two beside me could hear it, or even feel it. So, to calm myself down, I opened my mouth and began singing one of my songs softly.

_"W-Where did we meet before just like t-this?_

_I k-know your smile, your voice j-just like that,"_

I was singing it to so softly that I hoped the two didn't hear it; but I also wanted them to know it.

_"Y-You talk to me and I s-smile back._

_I don't believe in f-fantasy."_

I felt my heart calming itself down as I sang and my grip on Neku's sleeve loosened only in the slightest. When I concentrated on something besides the darkness, it wasn't all that bad. I heard the tech talking with the other guy that was fixing the lights and I heard one of them say that it had broken once again. I was about to comment when a sharp object brushed against the back of my leggings.

I spun my head around and made the mistake of opening my eyes. What I saw was a pair of dark red eyes and a scream began bubbling out of me. I felt my fear growing as I collapsed from where I stood. Neku tumbled down with me as the scream I hadn't wanted to come out did just that.

"It's a bat!" Those words rang out all around us and the said creature made a hissing noise before it disappeared from my sight.

That didn't mean I couldn't hear it. I swore it was all over the place and I still wouldn't release Neku, who was demanding that I let him go so he could fight with Shiki. I heard the flutter of wings behind me and I swung a hand backwards. The thing let out a sharp squeak before my attack had shattered it to pieces. I felt my grip on the orange teenager slip and he was out of my sense of touch then. I started to reach out again when another bat came tearing towards me from the left this time.

I was quick to destroy that one only because of my fear. I heard the sounds of at least twenty bats being beaten up by Neku before the lights burst on. It blinded me for a second, but I managed to bring myself back to the present to see that ten bats were coming my way and Neku was fighting a giant gold one.

"Don't just sit there screaming! You're able to fight, so do it!" The boy yelled at me before going headlong with the giant bat.

I quickly got to my feet with the fear slowly ebbing away from me. I had a dreadful feeling that the lights would go off soon. To make matters worse, the bats were beginning to swarm around me now. I raised both of my hands until they were level with my face and then I slammed them down onto my knees as hard as I could.

A shock wave sounded out and flung itself into every corner of the room. Every bat that I could see suddenly disappeared because of my attack and the big one was brought down by Neku, seeing as my attack had been weak from the distance it needed to travel. Shiki appeared beside me with a breath of relief as I swayed to my knees.

"Talk about a heart attack! At least we got rid of the master though, right Rose?" She asked me.

I looked up at her with a shake of my head.

"The timer's still going. It's less then thirteen seconds now." I said just as Neku screamed that all of us were out of time.

I saw Shiki start to freak out when a new voice was heard above the dreadful sound of the timer:

"Don't drop the ball now, yo! Here's your 'master'!"

All three of us looked towards the sound of the voice to find Beat and Rhyme destroyed a tiny golden bat Noise. The boy grinned at all of us with an idiotic thumbs up.

"Yo, looks like we made it!" He exclaimed.

Neku glanced down at his hand to see that the timer had vanished as Rhyme stated what we know knew. I tried to get to my feet before realizing that I couldn't because of the fear still running its course through me. So sitting on the dirty old floor was where I remained.

"Hey! It's fixed! The lights can come on now!" The tech's man suddenly screamed out.

The five of us looked towards the source of the voice as Shiki said that they were back in business. Rhyme walked towards us and she stood right in front of me as she stared at the others.

"This place is gonna fill right up. We should step outside for now." She suggested.

The two beside me nodded and Shiki was the one to help me stand up. I held onto her arm and Neku's sleeve- much to his annoyance -as we walked out of the stage.

"So taking out the giant bat wasn't enough! It's a good thing the two of you came along. We owe you!" The girl said once we got out of there.

I leaned against one of the walls farthest away from the stage while pushing a hand up to my hair line. I heard Beat insult Neku while also using his nickname but I didn't care as I closed my eyes. My heart was still racing from not only the fight, but the fact that I had been in the darkness for so long. I heard the two girls laughing about something and I opened my eyes to see that Beat was doing a funny pose.

Neku looked like he had smirked and gave out a chuckle because that was when the other boy turned towards him, screaming his head off about the orange teen not laughing at him. Loud cheers came from inside the stage and all of us glanced at the door to see that lights were beginning to flash. The concert had started.

"Hey Rose, how come we were able to talk to Triple Seven?" Shiki asked me.

I looked towards her as all eyes fell on me, though I knew Neku wasn't stupid enough to not know the answer to that one.

"Anyone that can see or communicate with us is either a Reaper or a Player. Triple Seven just so happened to be a Reaper." I said to her before leaning my head against the wall and closing my eyes.

I remembered Mr. Hanekoma explaining to the three of us yesterday that the Shibuya we were in at the moment wasn't the one that all of us knew. It was what he called the Composer's Shibuya, one that the Reapers used to run the Game. Like I had said, people wouldn't see us, hear us, and what I didn't say was that they couldn't help us. I figured that was kind of obvious. I noticed that Shiki, who had freaked when I told her about Triple Seven, was now listening to Neku re-explain things for her that Mr. Hanekoma had already mentioned.

Especially the part when he had said that Players came to the UG from the RG for a common reason that all of us shared; and that we each had to forfeit one thing that we valued the most as an entry fee. The good thing about the Game was that if you won, you got it back. But if you lost, not only did that disappear, but you vanished from existence as well.

"Do you guys think we'll make it?" Rhyme suddenly asked.

I looked at her and actually took in how young she was. I had seen a lot of different Player's since the Game started, but none of them was her age of twelve. I heard Neku say that we'd make it to the end of the week no matter what and I looked at him in surprise. Someone was coming out of his shell.

"You know…The five of us make a good team," Oh no, I knew where Shiki was going with this and I absolutely hated it. "Starting tomorrow, what do you say we work together? We survived today because of teamwork."

I did not want to babysit two more people! That just made my work unfair! Rhyme agreed immediately and Beat agreed as well because she said yes. Shiki asked Neku and me if we had any objections and I didn't voice mine. I was too tired. Too weak to even hear the pink haired girl ask if I was okay.


	4. Week One, Day Four: A Soul Too Young

**Week One, Day Four: A Soul Too Young**

I woke up with a groan as my head pulsed to annoy me. I raised myself to my butt while pressing a sore hand against my temple. It was starting to grow painful to do my simple tasks that had been easy any other day.

"Oh! You're up." Rhyme's voice said to me.

I looked at the little girl to see her smiling down at me and I returned it with a short nod. Beat was standing not too far off as I slowly got to my feet.

"Where are we?" I asked while putting a hand over my eyes so I could see better since the sun was beating down on me.

By the looks of what I could see, we were somewhere close to the Ten-Four building. Shiki was already up and Neku looked like he had just gotten up as well as me.

"At Ten-Four. We're just watching and listening to the people passing by," The girl said with a smile, "I mean, Shibuya is so diverse. Everyone has their own story."

I looked at the people that she was mentioning and I sighed to myself. Sometimes there were just too many people here for my tastes. At times, I hated being in Shibuya all together. Especially when I was trying to focus on one persons thoughts.

"Ever tried scanning all of 'em yo? It's like havin' the radio on every channel at once." Beat murmured with a sigh.

I heard everyone starting to agree with that and Rhyme voiced that it was like everyone's values were all trying to come in the loudest. I dropped my hand when I thought that I was feeling better but that only made it worse. I closed my eyes while turning from the sun and the bright lights surrounding us.

"Shibuya's a battlefield compared to other towns." Shiki said slowly. I reached into my red two-tier skirt and pulled out my cell phone before flipping it open.

I heard Beat and Rhyme talking about how sad it was that no one in the RG could actually see us. I thought it was sad that that was true, though I was kind of happy too. My fans would recognize me right on the spot if I were visible. I was just about to flip open my phone when the mission came beeping in on all five of our phones.

Shiki got pretty excited because she started screaming that this mission was going to be a breeze thanks to the five of us working together. I looked down at the message and voiced it out with my eyebrows scrunched together.

_**"Reach Towa Records. No time limit. Fail, and face erasure. -The Reapers."**_

It was pretty strange to not have a time limit for this mission. This hadn't happened before, and it bothered me somewhat. The Reapers were definitely trying to set up a trap for us, that was for sure. I heard the four others complaining about how short the walk would be- seeing as it was only ten minutes from here -when Beat suddenly got an idea. Which he voiced.

"Yes, and I can only imagine what it is you have thought up." I muttered bitterly while snapping my phone shut.

No one heard what my words were and that didn't surprise me all that much. I turned to look at the other boy as Shiki asked what his idea was. He grinned like he was king of the world and said, "How 'bout you three race us two, and we see who gets to Towa Records first?"

There was silence around us for what felt like hours as I looked at Neku and he looked towards Shiki. The three of us- well, just me and the cat boy –thought that what Beat said was the silliest and dumbest idea that we had ever heard. Without waiting to hear if we would agree to it or not, he suddenly ran off while calling for Rhyme to hurry up.

"Wait!" She yelled back, though she didn't move from her spot.

Shiki started laughing and she commented on how much energy he seemed to have. The little girl turned back towards the elder one and smiled.

"He sure does keep me on the ball. Sometimes he can get a little crazy, though. Beat's actually the one who asked me to be his partner." She said to us.

Shiki smiled back and started to say something when she stopped with a gasp. I heard her words that next spewed out of her mouth, but they were so mashed together that I didn't have any way of knowing what it was that she said. Rhyme seemed to understand though, since she looked down at the necklace that she was wearing.

"Thanks for the compliment! But rare or not, I can't give you mine. It was a present from my brother, you see?" She said while touching the bell that was tied onto a line of black rope.

I remembered seeing it one time in a magazine not too long ago. It was one of the items that went popular practically over-night. They were sold out long before I could have laid my hands on one when I was alive.

"You've got a brother? Is he older or younger than you?" Shiki asked the little girl.

Rhyme replied with an older and she started going off on all the good things about him. I would have been bothered by that if it were any other person; but, strangely enough, I didn't mind that she was telling us all of these things. I didn't think that would happen if I ever met someone that I'd allow them to tell me all about the one person they admired the most.

"I hope he's okay…" Rhyme suddenly said after she had numbered off all of the things she could think of about the older brother that was probably still alive.

Shiki assured her that he was more than likely doing great and that she'd see him soon. The other simply said that she hoped so. They started going into more things about fashion and trends and what they wanted to be when they grew up and that was when I tuned out of the conversation completely. I was already in too deep with these other Player's.

If I started learning things about them that friends knew, I wouldn't be able to get them out of my head. That's why I was trying to block out everything the two girls were saying. But some parts slipped through my wall. Like how Shiki wanted to be a designer, for instance. And that Rhyme didn't know what she wanted yet.

"Yo, Rhyme! Whatchu doin'? Move it! We don't want Phones to win!" Beat's voice suddenly screamed from where he stood, already on his way to Towa Records.

Rhyme and the others looked in his direction and I did the same as the girl sighed and yelled back that patience is a virtue. She turned back towards us and with a smile, said that she had better get going before Beat came and dragged her away. She then ran after her partner and we watched as the boy became a speck in the distance.

"Wow…I wonder if Rhyme has a hard time keeping up with him." Shiki voiced to the two of us.

I shrugged my shoulders while turning away from the scene and instead, taking in what was around me. Ten-Four was right behind me and that meant the scramble crossing was directly across from it. Dogenzaka was to the left of the building and Towa Records was to the right. I heard Shiki ask me if I was going to chase after the two that had just taken off and I gave her an exasperated look.

"I don't run after people that act like children." I said to her.

She acted like she had known I was going to say something like that and my nose crinkled just a little as she turned towards Neku with a bright smile on her face.

"That means we can slow down and go shopping! Come on, I know the best places we can shop at in Ten-Four!" Shiki said while grabbing my wrist and her partners.

We had no choice but to follow her as she led us into the building that I had not wanted to go into. I've been to that place loads of times, and every one of those times it was packed with people. So I knew what to expect as we were harried inside by Shiki. Neku, unfortunately, did not.

"Ugh…It's a zoo in here! Are they having a sale or something?" He exclaimed.

Shiki was the first that giggled as other buyers turned to glare at the boy for being so loud. I only sighed and took my hand from the girls clutches as I turned towards the boy in front of me.

"Ten-Four is always like this. And if you don't mind, I'll wait outside." I said to them.

Shiki asked me why I was leaving as I walked towards the door. I was hoping to get out before a fan of mine could recognize me. All it would take is one look in the face, and it would be all over. My eyes were the one thing that always gave me away. Contacts couldn't hide them either.

I left without giving an answer and relief washed over me when no one called out my name. I leaned against one of the walls beside one of the doors with a sigh. I had just closed my eyes to get some of the weariness from yesterday to leave when there were screams from the inside of Ten-Four.

I turned my head to see what was causing all of the noise and I saw that it was Eiji Oji, officially known as the Prince of Ennui. I kind of remembered him from when I was alive. He was an okay star back then, but I guess from the sounds of so many screams that he had become the newest star that everyone was following.

I heard Eiji start talking to someone that was uncoordinated and I glanced over my shoulder to see if I could tell who it was. I managed to see someone tugging at a strand of orange hair and I couldn't help but smirk. It was Neku. Of all the people!

I let out a soft chuckle and put that image to memory, for reasons unknown to even me. I didn't have to wait long after for the two of them to appear, though they weren't carrying any sacks of clothes. Shiki was telling Neku to pay attention to the trends of Shibuya when she noticed me and smiled.

"Rose! You just missed it! Eiji-!"

"Oji, I know. I heard the screaming fan girls from out here. It nearly scared me." I interrupted while pushing off of the wall behind me.

She didn't seem annoyed or upset that I cut her off like that as she began going on about the adult and she then asked me if I was a fan of the Prince. I immediately scoffed while putting my hands in my skirt pocket.

"I regret to inform you, but I don't like following the stars and celebrities like the others. I do what I want and don't run around screaming my head off like those girls in there just did." I said to her.

Now those words seemed to sting. Shiki flinched a little and put a giant pout on her face that began to bother me. But as quickly as it came, she turned towards Neku.

"We can head on over to Towa Records now. I'm done shopping." She said.

The boy nodded and we headed back towards the scramble, seeing as that was the only way we could go back to the records area since the rest of the place was sealed off. I spotted the Reaper first. I decided not to point it out because I had told the two that I was going to do all that I could to lengthen the missions out.

"Look! There's the Reaper!" Shiki pointed out when she caught my staring.

Of course, that happens sometimes. We walked over and the Reaper looked at the three of us before pulling out a pin that had the symbol for one thousand in kanji.

"Bring me two of these. Then you can pass the wall." He told us.

I sighed a little to myself before taking out my Player Pin. I turned away from the Reaper and the other two watched me flip the pin in the air before catching it. All sorts of red Noise symbols appeared before me and I picked out at least two that I knew would have the things that we needed.

"Hey, Rose. Since you know so much about the Game, how are we going to grab pins that have money signs?" I heard Shiki ask me.

I turned my head towards her with a wry smirk then.

"Noise carry them. Sometimes it comes as a surprise, but they carry money pins and pins that you can use to fight, Neku. Now come on, I've found some Noise symbols that could have what we need." I said and they listened to me.

I reached towards two of the Noise that I had been talking about and when they saw my hand, tons of blue and green frogs came jumping at us. Tadpoles were there with them as well. I hadn't expected the little tadpoles as they lunged at me. They stuck to my entire body and with so many on me, I collapsed to the ground and couldn't get back up.

Shiki and Neku rushed over and started fighting the blue and green frog Noise that had come with the tadpoles. I felt tiny fangs piercing my skin wherever it was showing and I flinched. It felt like someone was putting needles in my skin. I took a deep breath when I realized that I had no hopes of getting my hands raised. I let out a yell that was mainly caused by one of the tadpoles biting my neck.

The sound of my voice made a shock wave thanks to my psych and the creatures were blasted off of me. I hopped to my feet and began stomping and exploding the Noise that attacked me. When all of them were gone, I saw several pins that were on the ground. Two of them were the pins that we needed and I hastily picked them up, my body feeling like air compared to what had just happened.

"Are you okay Rose? Those tadpoles really bit into you!" Shiki commented.

I nodded to her question as I dusted the dirt off of my skirt and leggings. They had indeed bit me, but there wasn't any blood from where I could see. I showed the two of them the pins that I had picked up and I headed towards the Reaper. He took it with a nod and he broke down the wall. The three of us headed through the next area and we hadn't even taken three steps when Shiki started screaming at Neku.

"W-What did I do?" He yelled as I stopped walking to stare at the two in confusion.

I hadn't heard her scream like that at all since I met her. I couldn't understand what was wrong. Until she yelled that it was coming loose and she pointed at one of the buttons on Neku's shorts. He started to say something when a look from me told him not to, which he decided to listen to. Knowing the girl in front of us, she was not happy at all about what was going on. She soon crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Off." She stated.

Neku and I looked at her like she was crazy because we didn't understand what she was saying then. She crinkled her nose and pointed at the shorts.

"Your shorts. Take them off! I'll fix the button." She demanded.

I felt my mouth starting to drop when I slapped a hand over my mouth. Neku, on the other hand, had a different story to voice.

"Are you high or something! I'm not taking my pants off in front of you or her in the middle of the street!"

"Oh grow up! What, are you going commando? You're invisible! No one's watching." Shiki yelled at him.

She walked towards her partner and he immediately jumped back, as if she was going to burn him or something.

"You two are watching!" He screamed back.

I could feel a deep blush growing on my cheeks even when I tried to hide my entire face in my hand. Shiki demanded that he take his pants off right now before her eyes turned towards me.

"Rose! Hold him down with your psych!" She ordered me.

My eyes widened in shock but I knew that I couldn't get out of this. I slowly raised my free hand while trying to cover the blush on my cheeks. Neku looked at me with a light blush on his face, but the two of us knew that I didn't have a choice.

"…Sorry," I mumbled before pointing one finger at him.

I knew the second my powers touched him that he was frozen on the spot. Shiki did too. She dive bombed at him with a sewing kit and tugged off his pants, while I tried to calm my racing heart and blushing face. It wasn't long that she was finished. She clapped her hands and smiled while commenting that she felt a lot better now. I lowered my hand and that allowed Neku to move around once again.

"You always carry a needle and thread?" He asked once he got used to being able to move again.

Shiki confirmed it and said that they always came in handy when she needed them. I led them towards the next Reaper and he noticed us.

"Give me five five hundred yen pins." He stated.

I figured that we didn't have enough time to hunt down the Noise that would give us those pins, so I reached into my pockets quickly. I handed the Reaper the pins that he asked and he nodded while taking down the wall. We moved passed it and found our way to Cadoi City, another part of the shopping centers of Shibuya. And standing right beside it was Beat and Rhyme, the former looking very impatient when he caught sight of us.

"The hell you been, yo? This is a race! Ain't you even tryin'?" He yelled at us once we came close.

I immediately shook my head. There was no way that I'd ever agree to such a thing like that. Neku said that he was on his own on this one.

"Ain't you angry you lost? Don't you wanna win?" Beat chimed back.

"Don't you? Why did you wait for us?" The orange haired teen demanded to know.

This caused the blonde one to stutter and press his hand against the back of his head. I could tell that he was trying to come up with something that I assumed was a lie before Rhyme giggled.

"Beat said we should let you catch up." She said, only to have the boy yell at her to be quiet in a nice way.

Shiki made a noise while saying that he was just a big softy underneath everything that he showed us. He told her to be quiet as well. After his moment of comedy, he regained his composure and said that he was heading on to Towa Records with Rhyme. He once again ran off with the girl calling after him to slow down.

"She's so lucky to have her best friend as a partner." Shiki said with a giggle and a smile.

I nodded in agreement as Neku said that she should have teamed up with the girl in the picture. I was confused then. I don't remember ever seeing a picture with Shiki and a friend of hers. It must have been on her cell phone, when we were trying to destroy the master of A-East. I heard Shiki telling me to hurry up so they could get to Towa Records and I followed the two of them silently.

We had just reached the area when I saw Rhyme running towards Beat, each grinning at the other. I was the one to see a Noise coming straight for the boy, gliding across the ground like paper.

My eyes widened when I saw that the Noise had Beat targeted, and that meant he was going to be destroyed. Shiki looked towards me with a smile and her mouth opened to say something when I saw Rhyme push her partner clean out of the way. I heard the heavy thumping of feet as a shark Noise burst up from the ground.

I realized that it was me running when I raised one of my hands. I almost destroyed the shark before it got the girl, when it gulped her right in front of me.

I froze mid-step with my eyes wide. The necklace that she had been wearing fell to rest at Beat's feet, who had been knocked down from where he had been standing. I stared at the space where Rhyme had been destroyed as something in the corner of my eyes stung. I couldn't stay standing any longer, so I collapsed to my knees as Shiki asked me what had happened.

"Aw, you ruined the whole thing! He was supposed to be number sixteen!" A shrill voice sounded close to my body.

I gasped just a little before turning my head upwards and to the side. Neku yelled out the word Reapers, but I already knew that. The girl from before was here, but there was a boy standing beside me as well.

He had orange hair almost as similar as Neku's and there were sandy colored sunglasses on his eyes. A black parka was over what I thought was a white tank top and grayish pants hid his legs. Strangely enough, he was holding a lollipop in one of his hands.

"Bingo! I'm Koki Kariya. This is Uzuki Yashiro. There. Now that we're all friends-"

"Hey! What did you do with Rhyme?"

Beat demanded as he got to his feet and snatched the necklace in his face. I had the sense to jump to my feet and I started to move away when the lollipop sucking Reaper noticed me. I almost got out of the way when he reached out and snatched me up around the shoulders.

"Um…hello? You just saw. She's gone. Erased. Noise food. Game over." Uzuki said with a smile on her face as I elbowed Kariya in the gut. This did nothing to release me.

"Her soul's just another speck of Shibuya space dust." He said while squeezing me tightly.

I wasn't idiotic. I knew that he wanted me to stop struggling, but I'd be damned if I let the Reaper that helped destroy Rhyme hold me like this. I heard Beat screaming questions that were getting too jumbled up by his mouth. But somehow, Uzuki heard and understood.

"Yeah. But, like, so what? That's our job. The boss said set a trap, so we did." She said and this made the blonde boy go into a fit of rage.

He yelled and called them murderers and insulted them. He even demanded that they bring back Rhyme. But all of us knew that that wasn't going to be possible. She was gone for good.

"Ooh, scary," Kariya commented as I once again elbowed him in the gut and I, in turn, was squeezed tighter. "Go on, Skulls. Be the star of your little soap opera. But Jr. isn't gone because of us. She's gone because of you. And do you know why?"

There was no answer that came back from anyone as I looked at Beat, who was so angry that he couldn't even tell that it was me. I saw Kariya look down at me with a smirk on his face that really bothered me.

"Why don't you tell him the answer to that one? I'm sure you of all people know the answer to that." I glared at the two Reapers for telling me what to do.

It was fine if another Player did it because I trusted a few of them; but trusting a Reaper? You'd be setting yourself up for disaster if you did anything they said. The only thing was:

I knew that I didn't have a choice in not doing it.

So I looked back at Beat to find all three of them staring at me.

"You failed to protect your partner…" I murmured quietly.

"What was that? I don't think they heard you! Louder!" Uzuki ordered.

My hands quickly turned into fists and my nails dug into the skin of my palms. I was angry. I hadn't felt like this in so long. I thought I was going to blow up like in those cartoons when you drink something too hot.

"You failed to protect your partner." I said, louder this time.

I knew that the three had heard me from the looks on their faces. I turned my eyes away from them when Shiki connected with her eyes. I heard Kariya mutter a praise for only me to hear and that only made my nails dig into my skin tighter. Blood would be pouring out pretty soon.

"So face reality, Skulls. We hunt Players down. You knew that." He said to Beat.

I knew that reality could be harsh at times, especially when your partner is destroyed right in front of your eyes. Or when you had the chance to save them from dying. The blonde started stuttering and Kariya took a step forward, causing me to do the same. He leaned into the younger kids face with a smirk.

"Well, Skulls, Jr. knew. That's why she protected you. Even gave her life for you." It was obvious that he was taunting Beat on from those words alone. I gritted my teeth and raised a fist to see that it was now bleeding. Uzuki started making boo-hoo noises before she snapped her fingers together.

"Don't worry! You won't be alone for long!" She cried with a smile.

I knew that they were going to try and kill Beat then. I heard him shout that the Reapers could make Noise and this made Kariya smile not very nicely.

"Bingo! All you need is some Soul and a pin to bind it to." He said.

"We'd love to take you on ourselves, but attacking Players directly is against the rules. So we use Noise instead." The Reaper girl said with a smile that told me she was proud to have thought that far.

I watched the two Reapers to see what they would do as the boy said that their work was done here. I knew that I wasn't going to be released without a fight as Uzuki started saying her good-byes to all of us. I slammed my fist as hard as I could manage into the boy Reaper's stomach and I still couldn't get him to relinquish his hold. He started walking away with me squirming around when he stopped and turned to Beat.

"One last thing, Skulls," With his free hand, I saw him do the old fashioned 'come at me' hand motions with a smirk, "You want payback? Then man up, huh?"

I heard Shiki calling out for me as I started kicking Kariya with my legs. I'll admit, the Reaper was pretty strong if he was able to keep me from getting free. But that won't stop me from trying. Using his arm to hold as much of my weight as possible, I lifted myself into the air as high as I could go. Beat was screaming at him to get back and he almost called Kariya a son of a bitch when he decided against it.

I used my lifted statues to kick him as hard as I could and this seemed to loosen the grip around my shoulder. I hit the ground and slapped a hand right in his face with a glare.

"You try to take me any further away, I swear you won't even see your death coming." I threatened while my hand hummed with the power of my psych.

I knew that Kariya could feel it even from the distance that surrounded the two of us. The look on his face told me that entirely. We stayed motionless for what felt like hours until the Reaper sighed in a way that I swore mocked me.

"Aight, you don't have to get aggressive. Go on before Uzuki notices." He told me while letting go of me.

I glared at him before running towards the group of Players as fast as I could. I was surprised on how fast he had traveled with me doing all the things that I did. But that didn't stop me from pounding my feet into the ground until I saw the shark Noise sailing towards me. By then, I wasn't far from Shiki and Neku. They noticed me just as the shark Noise burst up from the ground underneath me.

I pushed off the ground a fraction of a second before my body would have been eaten. I twisted my body in the air while shooting my psych out at the shark Noise. I felt one of its teeth graze me but I managed to avoid getting seriously hurt as it combusted right in front of us.

I landed on my feet beside the two while I turned to look at them. Both had looks of sadness, but the boy was hiding it better.

"We're alone again…Do you think Beat'll be okay?" Shiki asked.

I realized that I had missed a lot while trying to get away from Kariya in that moment. I don't know what happened to Beat yet. Did he vanish or something? Or did the shark Noise destroy him before that?

"It's fine. Mr. Hanekoma's with him." Neku murmured softly.

"But…he only had three minutes to live." The girl countered.

That was strange. I hadn't even known that Mr. Hanekoma was here. Then again, I was being dragged away by Kariya and Uzuki. That counted for something, I guess.

"Why couldn't we save Rhyme?" Shiki then asked.

I felt tears prickle at the back of my eyes and I forced them to go away. Crying in front of others was for the weak and the faint of heart. I was neither of them.

"Because we couldn't and didn't notice until the last second. That's how it was meant to be." Neku said.

But that was wrong.

I had noticed before that there was Noise and it was going to eat the girl. But the horrible thing was that I could have saved her. And I didn't. Dying hadn't even hurt this much.

"H-How can you just write her off like that! Don't you care? Aren't you sad! We could have done something! You could have saved her, Rose!" Shiki screamed at us as wave after wave of tears poured from her face.

I felt the sting of her words as Neku asked her if there was anything that we could have done, when there obviously wasn't anything we could do.

"Now you see why teaming up is a dumb idea?" He asked and that seemed like the final straw for Shiki.

"How dare you! You think not teaming up would have saved her? How can you be so cold? Beat and Rhyme were our friends! What happened to her…We're all responsible! It was our fault, too…" She whimpered as she turned her eyes towards me.

The look in them begged me to say that I would side with her on this one. I put my eyes on the ground then.

"I'm sorry Shiki, but I saw the Noise before it happened…And I think Neku was right on this one. Partners stick with their partner for a reason. And this was the reason I have been trying to tell you we can't partner with anyone else." I said while managing to keep from choking on my own words.

This would kill Shiki from the inside out. She glared at me with all the passion she could control and I knew she was going to yell at me for my words. I openly accepted it, though. I deserved it.

"Who needs 'em." Neku suddenly said, interrupting the girl when she had just about lashed at me.

She made a noise that was obviously from confusion and that made the Player start screaming.

"Who needs friends! They just laugh and talk like idiots and pretend to agree with you- so you end up caring about them…exposing yourself…getting hurt…Screw it! We're better off without them! You want people getting in your way? Dragging you down? I don't! And I never said we were friends. You did!"

I could see all of the emotions rolling off of him at this point. Sadness. Guilt. Anger. Pain. He had all of it. Much better than mine. At least he had enough guilt for the both of us.

"I am your friend. So is Rose, and so is Rhyme-"

"Back off! No one's my friend. Least of all you two. I just stay with you to survive." Neku screamed.

Now that brought me in anger. I turned towards him with a look that brought more pain to his eyes. I bet that meant my tears were starting to show through everything I was doing to hold it up.

"Neku…How c-could you…? You and Rose didn't feel anything when Rhyme was erased? Not even a little sad?"

I can't believe she put me in with him. I can tell you that I was heartbroken when I saw that little girl die.

"That's inhuman…You're both inhuman. You two are no better than those Reapers!" She screamed at us. I felt my anger get the best of me as I turned back towards her with my psych lifting my hair just a little to show how infuriated I was.

"No better? I've never been so insulted in my life! Rhyme was so young…She didn't deserve to be destroyed! Not when we could have saved her!" I yelled. Then my world faded to black.


	5. Week One, Day Five: Unrequited Lies

**Week One, Day Five: Unrequited Lies**

I awoke with tears in the corner of my eyes and a pain that filled my entire body. It didn't hurt like this normally; it only went to my chest. I sat there, gasping from the pain until I managed to make it go numb inside. I forced myself to sit up with my elbows and I looked around. It looked like I was at the AMX building, judging from the sheer thousands of people passing by.

But it shocked me that Shiki and Neku weren't anywhere near me like they usually are when I wake up. I got to my feet slowly and as I did, my thoughts ran right back to Rhyme. This made the pain come back but I realized that it wasn't from my stab wounds.

It came from knowing that I could have saved the little girl, and I didn't. I knew then that I wasn't feeling any pain. I actually felt guilty for not destroying the Noise, even though I agreed to only protect Shiki and Neku.

_"You two are no better than those Reapers!"_

I sighed to myself while putting a hand to my forehead. To be honest, I didn't know what was worse. Being yelled at by one of the two people I actually liked, or having the guilt weigh me down because of what I could have done. It was then that my cell phone went off, saving me from anymore of my thoughts. I flipped it open and read the message aloud.

_**"Free Spain Hill from the Noise. You have two hundred minutes. Fail, and face erasure. -The Reapers."**_

I gritted my teeth before snapping my phone shut.

"Just my luck. Those two are off running around doing god knows what and I've got no idea where they are. And on the fifth day, no less!" I huffed while turning towards the direction Tipsy Tose Hall was.

I was walking towards it when I thought of how funny it was named. It bothered me to think of such a silly name when you were saying something like fighting for your life. I continued walking until I reached an alleyway that led towards Spain Hill. I stopped when I noticed that the remnants of a wall used to be there. Someone had passed by it with the help of the red Reaper posted here.

"That must mean…Shiki and Neku managed to get passed a wall without my help. They're learning to go on without me." I said to myself before heading towards Spain Hill.

It wasn't long before I caught sight of Neku's orange hair. I was washed over by relief as I ran towards them. Both heard the sound of my footsteps and they turned towards me. The boy looked like he was relieved to see me but he quickly covered it up. Shiki couldn't have been more than happier.

I saw a wolf Noise lunging towards the girl and I swung one hand towards the Noise. It was pure luck that it was destroyed and not the girl instead, who didn't notice that I had just killed one of the creatures.

"We're glad to see you're still here Rose! I thought those Reapers from yesterday found you today and dragged you off!" She told me with a smile as I approached the two of them.

I merely nodded my head while taking in the scene before me. There was Noise everywhere besides the one that I had destroyed. I continued searching until my eyes fell on two girls that were giving off very negative vibes. I pointed towards the two then.

"That's the source for the Noise to appear. We've got to destroy the ones that are there with those girls." I said to them.

Luckily, Neku was the first to listen to me as he went running towards the Noise that controlled both of the girls. I hurried after him but Shiki stopped me with a hand on my arm. I glanced at her to see how sorry she was.

"A-About yesterday, Rose…I just want to say that I'm sor-"

"You had every right to yell at me like you did. I deserved it more than you know, so don't apologize. Now come on and help fight the Noise." I interrupted.

I didn't let the girl say anymore as I tugged my arm free and ran towards Neku. I saw the first batch of Noise coming towards him and I destroyed several of the ones that came at me while Shiki went to the other dimension. It wasn't long before the rest were killed and I looked towards both of them to see if that was all we needed to defeat. Neku started to say that that was all when his partner gasped.

"No…Look! Here come some more!" She screamed, causing both of us to turn our heads.

Sure enough, I saw that there was more Noise coming because of the negativity from the two girls. The boy muttered a curse and then stated that destroying the Noise wasn't going to work.

"The two of them keep drawing more. I wonder what their story is…" She said softly as the two high school girls talked with each other.

The one with short black hair was asking if her friend- whose name was Ai -was free around this time next week. Her friend gave a short answer followed by a question that the other girl dismissed shakily.

"Do you feel all of that negativity?" Shiki asked both of us.

I noticed Neku's eyes widen just a little from surprise before he turned to stare at the two of us.

"What if that's attracting the Noise? I mean, the Noise hijacked the tech because he was jealous." He said to us.

Shiki mentioned that the two of them didn't look possessed and were instead just calling out to the Noise. I sighed but chose that moment to butt into the conversation once more.

"That's where we come in. Helping them patch things up will be an easy thing. After we figure out what's wrong, of course." I said to them.

We stood there for what felt like hours until Neku turned towards both of us girls. I knew he had a plan so I waited to see if he would voice it. Which he soon did.

"How about Reaper Creeper? We could imprint it in Ai." With that suggestion, I thought of the things that could go wrong. But nothing came to mind.

Shiki nodded when she saw that I was okay with that idea. Since it was the boy's idea, we let him do the implanting and I would do Reaper Creeper. He walked over to the two girls as I watched with his partner at my side. I knew when he had successfully implanted because Ai asked her friend about Reaper Creeper.

"Yeah! That magic game people were talking about at school, right? The one that answers your questions!" The friend exclaimed.

"Wanna try it?" At this question, Ai's friend nodded to show that she was pretty excited to try it out. Neku walked back over to us in that moment and Shiki asked him if we should fake it.

"We already agreed to that, remember? But do I really look like a Reaper?" I asked the both of them.

There was silence from the two that stretched on and on like a snake. Shiki began to say something to me when I turned around so my back was facing them.

"How rude. I'll be sure to remember that when you're near death." I grumbled before walking towards the sheet of paper that was between both girls.

I heard Neku call to me that Ai needed to know the truth and I waved back to show that I had heard. I was planning to that in the first place. I stood beside both of the high school students as Ai's friend summoned the Reaper.

"Before we get in much deeper…If you're here all right, go to White!" That color meant yes, if I was correct.

So after she told me to go to white, I put a finger on the coin and pulled it slowly towards the blank color she had wanted. Both watched the coin move and the friend started screaming when she saw the coin stop on the color she wanted.

"That means the Reaper's here! That's so creepy! Can you believe it? Reapers really exist!" The friend exclaimed while looking at Ai.

She was beginning to bother my ears now. I could tell that if she could see me, we wouldn't have gotten along that well at all.

"That's right, Mina. And they can see right through a lie. Now it's my turn." Ai said.

She was then asked by her friend what she was going to say.

"Hmm…Why don't I ask about you?" She said with a slight smirk.

Annoying little twit. That's why I was home schooled. People like her sicken me.

"W-Why would you ask about m-me?" Mina stuttered.

There was no answer that Ai gave her friend. She instead started doing the summons for Reaper Creeper again.

"Reaper…Creeper…If Mina has a boy she likes, go to White!" I glanced at the two Players to see that Shiki was ushering me on.

I grabbed the coin- which had been put back in the middle -and slowly dragged it back to the white. When I stopped, this made Ai grow furious. Or was it excitement? I couldn't tell.

"Next question!" Ai hollered.

"T-This isn't like you, A-"

"Reaper. Creeper. If Mina has secrets that should be brought to light…go to White!"

I flinched from the closeness of her voice. It was so loud that I swore my ears were going to be bleeding for hours afterwards. I dragged the coin back to the color that was getting all the attention and this made Ai's accusations get worse. Mina begged her friend to stop but all of us knew at this point, she wasn't going to do such a thing.

"Reaper. Creeper. Yesterday Mina met with Makoto. And she lied to me about it. If I'm right…go to White!"

Here it is. The one that the three of us have been waiting for since we started messing with this stupid game. I didn't get the chance to move the coin- thank goodness -as the accused friend pouted.

"You saw us?" She asked.

Obviously Ai did. She wouldn't be doing this to mess with Mina, or else that would make her an even bigger ass than having to play Reaper Creeper instead of talking about it.

"Yes! I know all about you. You and Makoto and your little-"

"Here."

I watched as Mina handed Ai what looked like two tickets to some sort of event. Her friend stared at the other girl in confusion but it quickly turned into sadness.

"How could you, Mina? You knew I liked Makoto…" She whined.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to help," all of us looked at the two in confusion then. "Makoto wants to go to the Molco slam-off. But he couldn't get a ticket. He told me yesterday. So I started mailing my friends. I figured, you know, maybe if I scored two tickets…" The rest of her sentence went left unsaid, but we knew what she was telling her friend.

Ai realized it too as she began to get tears in the corners of her eyes. Mina smiled at her friend as she told her and Makoto have a great time.

"You mean you got them for me?" I guess she didn't realize what her friend was saying. Dolls think alike, I suppose.

"Yup! Now you can put the moves on him, hee hee." Her friend said as Ai began apologizing for the way she was acting.

The other accepted it and said that she herself was sorry for lying and that they were still friends. An argument like this wouldn't ruin what they had. I chose then to look at the Noise around us. It didn't surprise me that the Noise was suddenly thinning away until there were hardly any. Shiki saw this as well and she told her partner, who in turn said that we had better destroy them quickly.

We attacked the Noise with everything we had and I noticed that the porcupine Noise was about to slice at my body. I kicked at it before blasting it to shreds with my psych. That was luckily the last Noise that we needed to fight as Neku and Shiki came to my side.

"Timer's gone." The orange teen stated.

His partner made a noise of relief while yelling that the mission was complete. I even gave the two a nonchalant smile while noticing that the two high schoolers looked like they had made up pretty easily.

"See how nice it is to have friends?" I heard Shiki asking with a smile in her words.

I glanced at Neku to see that he thought differently, but the girl didn't notice.

"Sure, you may butt heads now and then, but life is more fun that way." Neku frowned at her words as I watched the two of them.

"I don't see the point of a relationship built on lies."

Oh, that one felt like an arrow slammed right into me. Even if it wasn't intentional, I thought for just a split second that he had realized who I was. But then I realized that he and Shiki would hate me more if I didn't come clean now about who I was.

Did I want that though? To let them know I was the singer that had been murdered? I guess deep down, I really did want them to know. My mouth started to open when I was beat to it by his partner.

"You don't lie to make friends. I agree, that wouldn't be right. But sometimes, you need to tell a fib because you are friends. Not all secrets are bad secrets." I closed my mouth and noticed that Shiki was looking down at her phone again.

I figured that was where the picture was Neku was always talking about.

"Hey, Neku? Yesterday you said we were better off without friends. Do you really think that?" I knew that this was a moment that should be held between partners so I turned away from them and focused on other things.

Like the pictures on my phone, for example. I skipped around until I saw one that had always been my favorite. It had my mom, my dad, my little brother, and my best friend in it with me. All of us had smiles on our faces and there was laughter in all of us. My mom had my white hair on her head and my dad had my unnatural blue eyes. I got one physical thing from each of them. But the former helped me to become a singer and the latter gave me my 'adorable good looks' that everyone says I have.

My little brother had been ten before I died. He had copper brown hair after Dad and the hazel eyes Mom had. If I remember right, his name was Justin. It's been so long since I looked at this picture and the memories hadn't been allowed to be seen until now. I gazed at my best friend to see her smiling face.

She had bright blonde hair tied in a pony tail and- though her eyes were closed -she had emerald eyes just like their namesake. I would always remember her name, no matter what I tried to get rid of the memories.

Aesh.

That was her name. Of course, the E in her name made it sound funny so she always had me just say Ash and told others that it was silent. I still remembered her words that she told me before I had died only three hours later. It had been after I hit a rough spot in my career as a singer. I was bombarded with a lot of mail and horrible messages and one threatened to kill me if I stepped out of my apartment.

It had made me so terrified that I wouldn't leave for days, and she finally came to the house. After a lot of cursing, Aesh said this:

_"Stop wasting your life in fear, Rose! People threaten me all the time too! Tell the people that you don't care, that you have no emotions outside of your music. Just stop acting so afraid of one little message. They won't actually do it. I promise it."_

I had taken her words to heart and did as she told me. But I had died within the day. I'm sure Aesh regrets telling me to leave my house now. She was the kind of person that was happy on the outside but blamed herself for all the things that revolved beside her.

"Rose? What's this talk about a second chance?" I snapped my phone shut while turning to find Neku was staring at me.

He seemed pretty confused and I wondered why until his words hit me like a pound of bricks. My eyes grew wide when I realized what he was asking me.

"You mean you don't know that we're all d-?"

"Hello, young ladies." A deep, ominous voice rumbled behind me.

I spun around with surprise in each step as Shiki screamed out who was here, even though she had nearly shrieked in shock. I knew it was a Reaper even before the orange haired teenager said those words to us.

I saw a man standing before us with a camo sweater hiding a black shirt with blue jeans and a…bull's head for a belt over his- well, you get the idea. Hair that looked like thick seaweed traveled down to his shoulders and a glittering goldness was in his eyes as he looked at us.

"Correct. But not just any Reaper. I am Yodai Higashizawa…Game Master by proxy."

Hell.

This was bad for the three of us. I wasn't in shape to take on the Game Master just yet; my psych wasn't prepared for the drawn out fight that this Reaper would most undoubtedly bring.

"So you're in charge?" Neku asked as he and Shiki stood beside me, both readying their psyches.

I figured that I should as well just in case this got ugly. Both of my hands pulsed with the feelings of my psych but the Reaper standing before us didn't seem to notice as he told us that that was correct.

"Then Rhyme is gone because of you!" Shiki screamed.

Yodai frowned at us while crossing his arms over his chest in a manner that said he was trying to intimidate all of us, though it didn't seem to be working.

"I detest leftovers. No Players were meant to escape yesterday's chowder of destruction," I suppose that meant the three of us were the last ones in the Game now. "Do you know why you alone survived?"

None of us had a good enough answer for that. It could have been a number of things:

Me helping them out. Beat and Rhyme teaming up with us. Luck. Any of those things and a lot more. When we didn't show signs of answering, Yodai sighed, though it was more of a growl in my ears.

"Because you are strong. It's a dog-eat-dog world. A logical hierarchy, much like the food chain. The strong reach the top and win the Game, while the weak are left behind, the heels of the proverbial loaf." Yodai said.

"How dare you! Rhyme protected Beat! You call that weak? Take it back!" Shiki hollered as my psych flared just because of the words the Game Master had said to us.

I'm sure Neku was bristling with anger just like I was. The Game Master had no right to insult that little girl by calling her weak. If I thought I could beat him, I'd take him on right now.

"I admire your courage and loyalty, young lady-" Ew, he just licked his lips! "-Delectable."

I saw the flash of hunger in his eyes and I took a step forward so I stood in front of Shiki. That meant Yodai had his eyes on me.

"Cannibal. You make Reapers look horrible. I know of two that would never say such mean words just to inspire a reaction." I said to him while slowly powering up my psych.

I did so on purpose so that he could feel it. But the oaf wouldn't still. Against my better judgment, I raised it a little higher until there was a watery dance in the air around me. That was my psych, preparing to attack when I thought it was necessary. No one said anything as I glared up at Yodai while also lowering my power. He had most definitely seen it now. I knew that from the look on his angry face.

"Intriguing," I heard him murmur. 'This calls for a taste test! Let us see how the three of you fare as food for the Noise!"

I saw a giant bear Noise come out of thin air and it towered over me with a claw raised. I realized it was going to strike me when the claw was swinging towards my body. Shiki yelled at me to jump out of the way and I sprang into the air as high as I could go. The claw slashed at my hair and I felt a lot of it get sliced off. That meant I had just barely avoided the attack.

Neku and his partner got hits as I grabbed onto the other claw that was now raised. I leaped onto the bear's head and raised one of my hands. My psych flared just a little before slamming into the Noise below me. I was focused on the attack I was doing so I didn't see the first claw coming at me until it scratched into my side.

I was flung from the top of the bear and my back hit the pavement pretty hard. I was almost at a loss of breath when I put both hands over the gaping, jagged wound the Noise had given me. If the day didn't end fast enough, I would die here and now again. With the force of my psych building inside the bear, I heard it roar before it was blown into pieces that quickly vanished.

Shiki and Neku were at my side and they saw the amount of blood pooling underneath me. I heard Yodai laughing as the girl asked if I was okay. I merely nodded as I got to my butt and held onto my wound tighter, though blood still seeped through it.

"I see I've sunk my teeth into something good." He confirmed while staring down at us greedily.

"We'll never lose to you! You'll pay for what you did to Rhyme!" Shiki retorted with a glare even as she pulled out some fabric from her pouch.

I felt her pull both of my hands free but I yanked them out of her grip and put them back on my wound. She frowned at me but understood that I wasn't going to let her help me.

"Sadly, I've had my fill for the day. I only came here to meet the two young ladies." Yodai said, as if he wasn't creepy enough.

Both 'young ladies' looked up at him and we each had a glare on our faces. Shiki demanded to know why the two of us.

"To get a closer look, of course," he stated while cracking one of his hands' knuckles. "At the charcoal-black envy beneath the barbecue of your heart, and the boiling red lies on your mouth."

I stared at him without letting the Reaper know that I was confused. The former must have been about Shiki, because I wasn't that envious of people. It was true that I had been making lies so the two wouldn't find my identity too soon, but nothing like what Yodai was saying.

"Don't the two of you understand, though? You can't fool me. The lies and the feelings are there, she just covers them with more lies and you bury them," He addressed Shiki while pointing at me with his golden eyes at the first part. "Your talk of loyalty, of dreams and friendship…They're no more than a lid on your stir-fry of jealousy. And you, always hiding in the back, saying things that you don't believe, that you don't want to be voiced…It's a sham to hide all your anger and pain."

Shiki and I both gasped while staring wide eyed up at Yodai. I knew that he was the only one to see through me like that, to see what was lurking just below the surface of everything I had woven. This made me hate the Game Master even more though. And I knew that if he wasn't careful, I would blow his head off.

"Oh how deeply you two must hate yourselves," he looked at the girl then. "You have exactly what you always wanted, but it's not enough, is it?"

I watched as he turned back to me.

"And you have nothing that you want, yet you still take it. Is that how greedy you are?"

I remained silent even though his words cut through me like a knife in butter. I wasn't greedy. I knew that I wasn't.

"No one loves you. You can't love yourself. And so the jealousy consumes you. That voice of yours is weak, broken down by the things you've tried to hide from them. This only spurs your anger-"

"Stop it!" Shiki screamed, but to no avail.

Yodai continued as if nothing happened, skipping what he had been about to say to me.

"That friendly sugar coating can't sweeten the selfishness inside of you. You think you're more important than anyone else. And that's where jealousy begins." Yodai said.

Shiki tried to deny it, but he cut her off.

"You are. And you know it. Why else would your entry fee be-"

"Stop! Don't say it!" She suddenly screamed, causing him to actually listen.

But he ended up laughing as my world began to fade. I was losing too much blood. I was going to die before the day was over.

"That complex of yours is a bruise on the tomato of your soul. Nothing will change if you are restored to life. You'll just go on hating yourself and being jealous of everybody else." He was about to continue when Shiki screamed that she couldn't hear anymore and ran off.

I felt my eyes beginning to close as dizziness overcame me. I leaned against what I assumed was Neku as he asked what the hell Yodai was talking about.

"We're all dead…Neku." I croaked out, causing him to look down at me in shock, "The Reaper's Game is…an examination to see who…can have a second chance…at life."

I heard Yodai starting to walk away when he stopped.

"You have the exterior of an onion, lady. But I'll bet your hate and anger will taste so sweet. All of you, be sure to stay alive until Day Seven. Take care, young ladies." With that, he vanished. My conscious faded away as well.


	6. Week One, Day Six: Teary Eyes

**Week One, Day Six: Teary Eyes**

It was a miracle when I discovered that I was still alive and in the Game. But it was also a pain in the ass when my chest and side throbbed. I gasped while rolling onto my knees and putting both of my hands against the wound I had received yesterday. There was no more blood, and the wound didn't hurt as much as it had before.

But hell was I sore.

I ached all over and there was nothing I could do to take care of it. I looked around to see where I was and this time I was at the scramble once again. I got to my feet while flinching from the hurt in my body. I saw something fall to the ground from when I had stood and I glanced down to see it was a red Player Pin with a black skull.

I had no idea where the pin had come from, but I picked it up anyway. I made a slight noise to show that I was in pain as I heard my name being called. I was about to turn to see who it was when my phone went off. I quickly flipped it open and muttered what it said:

_**"Dominate the scramble crossing view at three o'clock. You have one hundred and eighty minutes. Fail, and face erasure. -The Reapers."**_

I crunched my eyebrows in confusion then. I had been in Shibuya most of my life, but hearing them saying something about the view wasn't normal for me. I heard my name being called once more and this time I walked towards the voice while putting my phone away. I then glanced up to see that it was Neku calling me and not Shiki, which was a big surprise.

"Are both of you okay?" I asked them after getting close enough that the three of us didn't have to shout anymore.

"We're both fine, but you look terrible." The girl said to me.

I stared at her in shock then. Her voice sounded so empty, so void of emotion. That was definitely not like the Shiki that I knew. It made me wonder just what was going on through her head at the moment. I rubbed the large wound to my side while looking down at it. Blood was all over my red two-tier skirt and over my black shirt, though you couldn't see it.

"I've had worse," I reassured her before looking towards Neku, "Do you have any idea what the mission means?"

He gave me a frown that I knew meant he had no idea. I sighed as he suggested that we walk around and try to figure it out. I didn't make any move to show that I heard him besides following where he went. We soon met up with a business man that was in the RG and I heard him mumbling to himself something about three o'clock.

"Ah, maybe he's got what we need. You want to scan him?" I asked Neku.

He grumbled incoherent words but he scanned the man anyway. I watched in silence while fingering my wound to be sure that there was no blood coming out of it. The only thing I got back from the thing was a sliver of pain and the feeling of scabs. I had better not do too much fighting today.

"I figured out the mission," Neku said to me. "You see that big screen up there?"

I looked up to where he was pointing and slowly pieced together the mission in my head as well. I knew Shibuya enough to know that that big screen was Q Floor. That meant that when the mission said to 'dominate the scramble crossing view,' it was saying to get the entire crowd around here to watch whatever commercial was up there at three o'clock.

"But how is everyone going to look up? The scramble crossing has people just pass by, they don't stand to watch. It's going to take a miracle to figure out how to do it." I said to both of the partners that stood beside me.

"We'll just have to fix the Noise that is surrounding him and see if he can't figure anything out for us." Neku said to me.

I nodded a little but knew that I wasn't going to be able to pull off any major stunts. I just didn't have the blood capacity for that. So I stood where I was and watched the two of them fight. I used my psych with just enough force to knock the Noise away from me because if I used too much, I really would reopen the wound and bleed out.

So I watched as they cleared the Noise by themselves and the man snapped out of his depression easily. He started going off about how he couldn't make these red pins the next big thing, but that it was his job to make them that way. I sighed then while looking at the red pin that I had.

"It's going to be nearly impossible to get these pins fashionable enough for everyone at the scramble to look at Q Floor. Do you think we can do it?" I asked Neku and Shiki when they returned to my side.

"We're just going to have to follow him around for a while and imprint the things that appeal to the specific person he's targeting." The orange teenager told me.

I sagged my shoulders but watched as a blonde girl a little over my age walked past the business guy.

"Um…excuse me," the girl turned towards him then with an empty expression on her face. "I, umm…you, uhh…"

I couldn't help but smack my forehead against one of my palms then. This man had no idea what to do when he was trying to sell products to people that were walking around!

"Sota? Like, this guy. He's, like, talking to me?" The girl said and my eyes widened a little.

We had a really dumb and annoying girl on our hands. I was not going to be able to handle being around this girl if she truly acted like this.

"Whadda you want, dawg? Got somethin' to say to my Nao?" The Sota guy said.

His girlfriend didn't help the matter either.

"Like, he said he thinks I'm cute…Right?" I watched as the business man made a mess of himself. He was going on about how he didn't think Nao was cute at all, and that upset the girl.

"Scuse me?" Sota growled.

"Ahhh! No no no no, she's cute! But not…you know…ahhh!"

It was obvious that he was going to lose it, so I stepped in quickly. I whipped my phone out and pointed it at him while clicking a message that said _totally gnarly_. It made a clicking noise and a red light jammed into the adult's forehead. This made him jolt and he started going off about being totally gnarly. The younger man asked him what the hell he was doing then.

"Umm…M-My grandpa! It's my grandpa. He's…He's all gnarly!"

Well, I suppose that was a nice save for the guy. Sato repeated his last word in a questioning way.

"F-From his arthritis! The poor man beats himself up because no one wears these pins. When I see his gnarly hands tremble with guilt, I…I just…Ohh, Grandpa!" He was better at lying than I thought he was. I can honestly say that I was impressed. "So, um…Would you do me a favor, and wear one of these pins for him?"

The three of us Players watched this strange conversation in silence. Neku looked surprised that he had lied so well as Sato asked what his name was. He got back that it was Makoto Miki, or Mick.

"Mick…You're a good man." He was told.

"Yeah! Like, that was totally moving?" Nao said with a smile.

The couple quickly took the pins from the business man gladly and walked off. I smirked to myself while putting my hands in my skirt pocket.

"That worked pretty well," I said to Neku before jerking my head to the side, "Except for the fact that he is now leaving."

He ran off after Makoto with Shiki and I followed the two of them slowly. I walked towards the direction that center street was in to find a red hooded Reaper giving the two of them a review. By the looks of it, they were having a hard time getting them right.

"Here, let me do it." I grumbled while shoving passed them both.

The Reaper looked down at me in silence but within a few minutes, he started talking up a storm.

"Question One! Which of the following shops is in the Ten-Four Building? Sheep Heavenly, Pegaso Atelier, or Edoga the Shop."

I stood there for a few seconds while bringing back the memory of that shop. I hadn't been there in ages, but I still remembered the names of the shops in that building. I told the Reaper that it was the last one and he made a noise that was meant to sound mysterious, but actually annoyed me.

"Question Two! What's on the sign outside Shibu Department Store? High heels, a skirt, or a necklace."

That question was a little tougher than the first. It took me longer to think of that one, mainly because I couldn't remember what it was. I finally went with the high heels though, kind of sure with my answer.

"Question Three! Bigbanfrog is Number Two on the Noise Report. Most folks know it as the blue frog Noise. Which of the following attacks does it use? Fireballs, a frog uppercut, or bubbles."

I knew the immediate answer to that one. I told him bubbles with so much sureness that it almost surprised Neku. The Reaper was done and he stared at all of us gravely. I started thinking that I had gotten it all wrong and would have to play it all over again. That would annoy me so much.

"Correct! You can pass on through," the wall was quickly dropped and before he left, he looked at us with a sly smirk, "But! Though you may forget the Review- rest assured, it remembers you. We'll see you again. Bye-bye for now!"

He walked off and I got the sense that he was acting really creepy at the moment. Most Reapers weren't like that at all. Neku was the first one to rush passed me and he was yelling at Shiki to get her ass in gear and move, which she did. I did the same and hurried after the two.

Soon, we had gone through Tipsy Tose Hall and arrived at Spain Hill. There, I saw that Mick was trying to get the tech from a few days ago to buy one of the pins. I sighed and prepared myself for doing this implantation of thoughts.

Before I could even start, Neku was doing what I was going to do. He didn't even spare me a glance to see if I was going to glare at him or anything. I honestly didn't care as the red light stabbed into Mick's forehead. His eyes seemed to brighten at whatever the orange haired teenager had imprinted into his head.

"Come get some hot stuff!" He suddenly screamed, startling me just a bit.

I glanced at Neku to see that he was as startled as I was. The tech seemed interested but he wasn't enough to get one of the pins. So Mick repeated his words and this caused the tech to smirk. The business man saw it and he repeated his words again. This time, the tech turned around and stuck his hand out with a smirk on his face.

"I'll take one." He said.

Mick handed it to him while saying thank you to the disappearing technician.

"Do you think he's done with the pins now?" I asked with a sigh.

Neku nodded as we noticed that he was leaving and going towards the scramble again. Without even discussing it, all of us followed him to the scramble crossing. When we got there, Mick was walking around and listening to the conversations taking place around us. I figured that he was trying to hear if they were talking about the pins and I sighed in annoyance.

"Should we go after him?" I heard the boy ask Shiki and me.

I turned my head to nod when I remembered that it wasn't my choice at the moment. Shiki was the one to decide what we do because she is Neku's partner; not me. I saw the look of sadness in her eyes as she looked down forlornly.

"Just…give it up." She murmured softly. Neku almost didn't hear her and he asked her what she had said.

"Even if we do clear the mission…I'll still…I'll never be…" The words weren't finished as she walked off from where we were standing.

Her partner screamed that she needed to get the hell back here as he chased after her. Before he left me, he quickly stopped and grabbed my wrist. He yanked me forward and we both had to chase down the girl. I didn't bother to try and slip out of his grip since it was too tight. When we reached Shiki, I was finally released so that it would be easier to confront the girl.

"Hey, what gives?" His partner didn't answer at all, causing him to sigh, "You've been acting really weird today."

She still didn't talk to him and I gritted my teeth in annoyance. She was purposefully trying to her hardest to ignore the boy that was supposed to be her partner. That angered me greatly, only because she had someone she could talk to if she needed to. I had no one that was even remotely as close as these two were.

"We have to get moving. It's nearly three. Or do you want to make us fail the mission?" I said in a bitter tone.

Shiki glanced at me and Neku did the same, though I bet it was for very different reasons. When the girl looked away, I knew that she was going to say something to us.

"…So what? There's no point," she muttered softly, "You two heard what that Reaper said-" here, she meant Yodai "-Even if I finish the mission…Win the Game…Even if I come back to life…I'll still just be me. What do I do?"

I let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose as the start of a headache suddenly hit me. It looked like Neku was thinking the same thing because he tugged at a strand of his spiky hair.

"What kind of question is that?" He asked her.

Shiki remained silent for several seconds, and then she said, "I thought I'd changed. But I'll never change. I'll just go on hurting."

I frowned at her then. Why would she say such things? People may not realize it, but they really do change when they don't notice it. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at the girl.

"Who says those kinds of things?" I asked her.

There was no reason for saying those words. Shiki acted like she hadn't even heard me at all.

"I was never pretty…or smart…There was nothing special about me at all. I…I hated myself. I wanted to change so badly. To be somebody else for once. I wanted to be Eri." I saw Neku sigh to himself, but he kept it quiet enough that his partner wouldn't notice.

"But it didn't work."

"I don't-"

I heard Neku gasp loudly in shock and my bright blue eyes looked at him in confusion. Shiki did the same as he pointed somewhere in the distance of the crossing.

"Over there! Is that…you?" He asked.

We turned our heads to see what he was talking about and I saw the very same girl that could pass for Shiki's twin. I heard the girl beside me scream out in fear as the look-a-like came closer to us with Mina at her side. They were talking about the brand new clothes that they had just bought and I heard the name that Mina said:

Eri.

The one that Shiki said she wanted to be.

I didn't notice that Neku's partner was running away until she barreled into me. I stumbled back before crashing onto the ground. Neku yelled at her to come back as I turned around to get up. I felt the boy grab my arm and he lifted me until my feet touched the pavement. He then released me and took off after Shiki. I heard him yell at his partner to get back here and I continued to run after them both.

I saw him grab her arm tightly and she was forced to stop where she was. I almost halted beside them, but something else caught my attention. It was a group of people dressed in pure black and some were sobbing. Others were slowly gathering closer and that was when I stepped towards them to investigate.

It didn't bother me to do this because they were in the RG, not here in the UG. I crept closer to the center of the group while hearing some of the words that they were talking about.

"…died three months ago…"

"…rents are still broken…"

"…era is in shock..."

"…heard she…likely to die…"

By what was going on, it sounded like they were getting ready to go to a funeral somewhere near Hachiko. The dead ones parents were still broken over everything and the best friend was in shock so badly that she might die. I heard more words but I blocked the rest out as I looked at what I assumed was a family, sobbing into each other's bodies.

I saw a flash of white hair and my eyes grew wide. I heard my name but I ignored it as I dove towards the sobbing family.

"It couldn't be…Not now…" I murmured while appearing in front of them.

All of a sudden, my legs felt weak at the sight of who these people were.

Silver hair with hazel eyes…Copper brown hair and blue eyes, then hazel eyes again.

I felt the pain in my chest become unbearable and I pressed my nails in the spot, digging them in as hard as I could. When I pulled them away, I saw that blood stained my entire hand. I think it was from my imagination, but it felt so real at the moment.

"A-Ah…" I breathed out as I felt the blood trickle slowly down my chest.

The stabbing pain from the knife came back full force as someone grabbed my shoulder from behind me. They said my name as I turned my head to look at them. There was a scream bubbling up in my throat that threatened to come out. Shiki was the one that had a hold of me. She looked really worried as Neku watched from a few feet away.

"What's wrong?" She asked me.

I opened my mouth and the scream started to come out. It was almost fully out when I heard the little boy saying something to his mother and father.

"Is big sister coming home soon, Mommy?" He asked.

I looked towards him with my mouth slightly open as he looked up at the white haired female and the copper brown haired male. The woman stared down at her son and began sobbing even harder as she got on her knees. She embraced her son as tightly as she could without suffocating him.

"No…Our little Rose will not be coming home ever. She's de…She's dead…"

I felt my pain hurting even more as Shiki asked me what was wrong. I finally closed my eyes and mouth and lowered my hand. Just like I had thought, the blood hadn't been real at all. I forced myself to look away from what used to be my family and I walked back towards Neku.

"I-It's nothing, Shiki." I murmured softly so only she heard me.

"But wasn't that your fa-?"

"Please…Don't say anything about it. I won't be able to handle it."

I interrupted as I made my way to the orange haired teenager. He looked at me with a gaze that was questioning me on my actions. I felt my bottom lip quiver and I realized I was about to cry. I shook my head immediately and tried to force the tears to go away. Shiki hadn't come over yet, so that was good for now. I don't think I'd be able to handle it at the moment.

"I'm fine. Let's just…" I felt the tears coming without being able to stop them anymore.

A choking sound came strangled out of my mouth as Neku glanced at my sobbing family. His eyes seemed to realize something and he looked back at me.

"Is that your…?"

I was glad that he didn't finish that question, even though I knew what he was asking. I forced myself to remember what I had thought the last time that I had cried.

Crying is for the weak. I'm not weak. I won't cry in front of anyone ever again.

I heard Neku say my name as the tears built up in the back of my eyes. No matter how much I forced myself to not let them fall, one began to slip. I felt it glide down my cheek and I looked up at the boy. My bright blue eyes were stained red as I tried to glare at him.

"D-Don't tell Shiki th-that I'm c-crying." Was all I said before I lunged at the boy.

He let out a yell of surprise as I pushed my face into his sleeve. I heard him ask what the hell I was doing as I let the tears slip even further.

"I…I don't like crying in front of anyone. It makes me feel weak. S-So let me…let me do this until they're gone." I muttered.

He didn't reply to me and I was glad for it as I let several more tears fall and stain the boy's coat. I could feel his muscles tensing because of the closeness we had. Neku didn't like being in a position like this. That's what I got from his muscles. But no normal person really does either. I heard Shiki calling out to us and I quickly pulled away from the boy and closed my eyes. When the girl got within talking distance, I opened my eyes.

I was almost positive that there wasn't any redness left in them as I looked at the girl with a sigh.

"What were you doing over there? We've got a mission to do." I said to her.

Shiki glanced at me and I didn't see much of a worried expression on her face. That bothered me more than anything because I didn't know if she had seen what I had been trying to keep secret between me and Neku. I kept my anxious eyes blank so my thoughts wouldn't be betrayed through them. I had no idea if any of these teenagers saw that I was hiding but I didn't intend to find out.

"Hey, Rose…Is there any chance that you can sing for us?" Shiki's question made me stiffen just a little.

I had never known that they heard me sing before. Well…there was the time when I had been in the darkness of A-East. I guess they did hear me then. I heard the girl ask me if I was okay and I blinked out of my thoughts to look back at her and Neku. A smirk soon twitched at the corner of my lip as I turned back towards the scramble crossing.

"Tell you what: If we make through the last day, I'll sing to you guys like I used to," the smirk grew even wider as I brushed a strand of my white hair back, "It'll be a personal concert, think of it like that!"

I walked back towards the crossing as the two tried to figure out my words. I couldn't stop the chuckle that came out from my throat but I didn't bother to seem all that shocked about it. I heard Neku and Shiki chasing me down and the girl quickly appeared at my side. She snaked her hand through my arm and pulled me along to the crossing easily.

"I always knew you were Rose Cermai!" She said in giddiness.

I glanced at her with the smirk still on my face because I knew that she would figure it out after that. But I had assumed Neku would find out first, he does enjoy music. Though I guess I appeal to other girls instead.

"So, what do we have to do now?" I asked the two.

Neku was the one that told me we needed to wear the red pins to complete the mission.

"I see. So let's get to work on fighting the Noise." I said while tossing the red pin in the air.

It fizzled in a flame as I caught it. Almost instantly at my contact, the pin sank into my skin. In its place was the black skull symbol in the palm of my hand. I was going to lower my hand slowly when it suddenly just dropped. I stumbled on my feet before nearly collapsing to my knees. I grabbed a hold of Shiki and Neku tightly as I tried to keep from falling over.

"What are you doing, Rose? Is the pin sapping your life away or something?" The girl asked me.

I shook my head while taking a deep breath.

"This red pin is making it hard to move, that's all. I'd be careful when you put it on too, Neku." I said to him.

He nodded as I got to my feet and slid my body forward. It felt like lead was holding me down. I could barely move as Neku put the pin on as well. I could see how tense he suddenly became and I knew then that it wasn't just me that was feeling the pins power. He looked at Shiki to see that she was feeling the same thing, though not as badly as the two of us.

"Are we ready to get these pins hot in the RG?" Shiki asked us.

We nodded and brought the Noise towards us. I remained where I stood and shattered the Noise from the inside out. I heard a bird coming at me from behind and I spun around as fast as I could, which was like a turtle. I felt the winged animal's beak sink into my shoulder and I flinched, but managed to combust the creature.

"Rose! Are you okay?" Shiki asked me once the fighting stopped.

I looked at her with a hand on my bleeding shoulder and nodded. I glanced around the area to see how many people were noticing the red pins and I saw that at least five of every ten people had stopped to get one.

"I think we should keep going. Not enough people are going to look at Q-Floor at this rate." I stated. The two nodded and we headed for Ten-Four to start a trend right there. By the time we were done, I couldn't stay standing anymore.

I collapsed and fell onto my butt while breathing heavily. Sweat was dripping off of my forehead as I heard the partners talking. I couldn't make out what they were saying because there were people from the RG that talked about the red pin. I suddenly heard the girl scream out in shock and I looked up hastily. I didn't know if it was caused by the sight of more Noise or something. But I soon found that it was because of Eri.

I struggled to my feet but immediately fell back down. Those lead weights have now become iron chained balls. I heard Shiki suddenly run off and her foot came inches from slamming onto my hand. She called back an apology as my eyes followed after her. Even though I couldn't get up easily, I managed to do just that and run after her.

Neku did the same and he was actually faster than me, though it wasn't surprising. He was a boy, after all. By the time I reached Neku and Shiki, their conversation was nearly over. The girl glanced at me with a smile even though her eyes were stained red.

"I'm sorry you both have been chasing after me all day. Could you forgive me for that?" She asked me.

I remained where I stood while suddenly chuckling with no malice or other negative emotions in it. It surprised me more than the other two because I hadn't used that tone since I had come into the Games at the beginning. It seemed that all of us quickly got over it though as I smirked at her.

"As long as we get this mission done, you can do whatever you want." I said to Shiki.

She laughed at me as Neku said that the commercial was about to air. All of us looked up at the Q-Floor in preparation for what was to come. After a few seconds, the girl muttered both of our names in worry. Both of us glanced at her and Neku told her not to worry and that they would watch the commercial. Before he had even finished saying that, I heard people from the RG beginning to point and talk about the commercial on Q-Floor.

I was so intent on listening to the discussions and conversations taking place that I didn't hear Shiki saying something about Eri. I did notice that she had walked off and I blinked my eyes while turning to look at her. She was standing beside Eri and listening to what the RG girl was saying to Mina.

I blocked out what was being said because I didn't want to know anything more about things that were outside of the UG. I didn't notice when Shiki began talking to me until she grabbed my hand and yanked my sleeve until I registered her in my head. I turned towards her with a quirk in my eyebrows and she looked at me with an airy laugh.

"Are you going to help us get past tomorrow?" She asked me.

I continued to stare down at her and she did the same to me. I don't think that she realized that I had already said that I was going to stay with them until the end of the week and that I'd do everything I could to not let them get there. But I guess the last part could be erased since I like these two so much. I decided to play with her just a little and I raised my hands over my head to stretch them.

"Well…I must admit, the two of you are as annoying as hell. I don't like how both of you always shove me around when you get the chance." I said to the two with a smirk.

I knew that they would believe my words because I always have a pretty good poker face, if I say so myself. Shiki's happy expression stopped there as I stared down at her. Neku was frowning at me. But I knew that both of them were thinking on my words and all the times that they carelessly shoved me out of the way. I felt my smirk widen as I lowered my hands and stuffed them into my pocket.

"I'm only kidding…halfway. Both of you are okay and I like being around you guys. So of course I'll help the two of you finish tomorrow!" I said to them.

This caused Shiki to begin smiling widely at me. She began laughing and saying that she was glad that I was going to be helping the partners. I nodded and began to grin when the day suddenly blacked out.


	7. Week One, Day Seven: The Final Truth

**Week One, Day Seven: The Final Truth**

"This is it. It's Day Seven." Shiki said to the two of us as I looked around the scramble crossing.

I knew that we were going to have a hell of a time getting to the Game Master. No idiot would ever be out in the open so that it would be easy to destroy the Reaper. I heard my phone go off so I quickly flipped it open, also gaining the attention of the two partners.

_**"The Game Master awaits you on the freeway. Defeat him. You have six hundred minutes. Fail, and face erasure. -The Reapers."**_

I said with a light smirk. I knew that the Game Master was the Reaper with the bull belt, but I doubted that he was going to be easy to combust like the other Noise.

"We need to pay him back for getting Rhyme." Neku said to us.

We nodded at him and agreed to ourselves that we were going to win this for everyone, including each other. All of a sudden, my phone began blaring out one of my songs and I was so startled that I almost dropped it.

"Who's calling? And isn't that Déjà Vu?" Shiki asked me as Neku questioned if it was the Reapers.

"I don't know who it could be, but it probably is the Reapers. And yeah, it's Déjà Vu." I said before answering the phone.

I pressed it against my ear and didn't even get a word out when Mr. Hanekoma's voice started screaming at me. I flinched and pulled the phone back and put it on speaker so all of us could hear it.

"Mr. Hanekoma, what's wrong? You almost ruined my ear." I said to him.

There was a loud crash on the other side of the phone and a curse before I heard the older man begin talking to us once again.

"Listen! Beat, he…he's gone!" He screamed.

I scrunched my eyebrows together then. I hadn't even known that Beat was still alive, let alone with the cafe man. Neku repeated the last word the old man had said in shock.

"Don't worry, he's not erased. At least not yet." Mr. Hanekoma told us.

Shiki immediately demanded to know what that was supposed to mean as I listened to the screaming teenagers.

"Look, he musta left the cafe while I was out. And don't ask why because I don't know."

Wow, this must have him freaking out like these two. The way his voice was rising and then lowering told me he was more worried than he was letting us know. But he must not want to freak us out any more than what we already felt.

"Look, no more questions. You gotta hurry! That kid ain't got a partner to fight with. He's Reaper-chow the second they spot him. Not only that…Today's Day Seven. The GM can attack Players directly now! And believe me when I say he will." Mr. Hanekoma said to all of us.

I looked up from where I was looking at my phone to see that the two were getting anxious to find their friend instead of just standing here, listening to what was going on.

"Have a little faith, guys. You're almost there! Put an end to the Game before anything can happen! If you do that, Skater-Brain might just survive this. Can you handle that, Ro?" Mr. Hanekoma asked me.

I sighed and shut the phone, indicating what my answer to him was. Though it wasn't an insult like I knew everyone was going to think it was. Shiki and Neku asked what we were going to do.

"That dummy doesn't realize what trouble he's caused. I suggest we go to the freeway and pray that we can defeat the Game Master before Beat gets destroyed by any Reapers." I said to them.

They agreed with me and we ran off that way. We headed straight for Hachiko since that was the way towards the freeway. We got to a Reaper as he looked at the three of us.

"Fight through a battle with Noise three times as a chain." He said to us. I sighed because it was going to be a pain in the ass to do that kind of thing.

But, I suppose we didn't have a choice.

"Nonstop fighting with Noise three times. Are you ready for it?" I asked the two while preparing to reach out to the Noise symbols we needed.

They nodded with excitement dancing in their eyes. With those motions, we all attacked every Noise that came at us. None could even bother to stop for a break because there were too many fighting us. When it was finally over, the Reaper in red smirked and cleared off the wall for us.

Shiki started screaming and ushered Neku and I forward. We complied with her and all of us were on the run when a Reaper dressed in pure black stepped in front of me. I was forced to skid to a halt and glare up at him while the others crashed into me.

"Get the hell out of our way." I growled.

I made sure to keep the partners behind me the entire time because you could never tell what was going to happen. It was better to be careful then to be idiotic.

"Sorry lil kid, but I'm here to clean the streets of the three of you." I saw a bird Noise come straight for me and I yelped.

Neku grabbed the collar of my shirt and yanked me backwards, so the beak just barely grazed my cheek. I flung my hand up and destroyed the bird from the inside out like usual. I had just barely destroyed that one when a giant Noise bird came flying down on us. I felt my eyes widen as the Reaper hopped out of the way. Its orange claws came for me as I snapped out of my shocked state.

"Jump back guys! It'll tear you to pieces if we get too close!" I yelled before following my own command.

Neku did the same as Shiki teleported to the other dimension to destroy the Noise there. I landed on my hands and heard the bird cawing. Tinier flaps arrived and I knew that it had just created some from the feathers that fell from its wings. I pushed off the ground and saw the giant beak coming at me. I kicked the thing as hard as I could while grabbing the head feathers tightly. With a quick jerk, I managed to spin myself onto the back of the crow Noise.

It went raging mad as I held on as tightly as I could. Neku called out to me and asked what the hell I was doing. I looked down at him with a smirk that showed how amusing this felt for me.

"I'm going to ride this thing and use my psych to rip it apart!" I yelled down to him.

I think he called me a suicidal maniac before the crow suddenly ascended. I wasn't prepared for it so I went tumbling down the length of the Noise. My name was screamed loudly as it looked like I was going to fall completely off. I gritted my teeth and managed to grab onto the Noise's wing tightly. I held on as hard as I could while yanking myself up. With each beat of the wing, I almost let go; but I managed to bring myself back to the top of the crow's head.

It didn't seem like the bird noticed as I raised both of my hands over myself. I powered up my psych to nearly half of its maximum power and I felt a sudden weight fall into the palms of my hands. Without pausing, I swung the hands down together and slammed them into the base of the skull.

The Noise began cawing in pain and it flapped all over erratically. But when I pulled my hands back and a massive, bleeding dent was visible to even me, I felt it disappear underneath me. I gasped while feeling the wind ride up behind me. I realized that I was plummeting to the ground with no way to stop myself from possibly snapping my own neck. I turned my head and saw the ground coming for me at a fast speed.

I put out a hand and slapped my psych into the ground only feet away. I saw my hand spasm all of a sudden and my power sputtered away from me. I realized then that I wouldn't be able to use my powers to save my skin. I had to do something else entirely. Neku and Shiki screamed at me incoherent words as I shifted my entire weight forward. My world flipped upside down for a split second until my feet were in an upright position with them pointing to the ground.

I raised my hands up to catch something that would stop me from dying when the falling sensation suddenly stopped. I looked down with shock written all over my face and I saw that Neku had caught me using his telekinesis. I could feel my heart pounding violently because of how close I had come to dying once again. I was lowered to the concrete easily and I felt my legs wobble just a little before they collapsed underneath myself.

"Be careful, Rose! Don't ever do something like that again! You could have gotten killed!" Neku screamed down at me with a hardened glare that made me shiver.

I never heard him sound so worried for me this past week. I heard him yelling and asking if I was listening and I blinked my eyes towards him.

"Y-Yes, I'm listening!" I stuttered to the orange teen.

He looked down at me with a smirk and then he offered his hand to me.

"Good. Now let's get going to finish this week!" Neku declared.

I nodded and put my hand in his, letting him pull me to my feet. Shiki walked over to us and smiled just a little. I glanced at her hand where the timer was and saw that we had wasted a good twenty minutes fighting that crow Noise and its minions. I cursed a little and then grabbed the girl's wrist tightly.

"Hurry. Yodai is waiting for us to pummel his ass into the ground." I smirked before taking off towards the freeway.

Shiki and Neku followed close behind and we knew that Yodai was going to be waiting for us after this. I could only wonder if all of us were ready for it. I knew that I was; but only just a little. In fact, I was almost as scared as when I had been in the darkness of A-East.

"I've just realized something, guys." Shiki said to us.

I halted in my steps and turned to face the girl and Neku did the same. We both held questioning looks as she smiled at both of us.

"We've gone through a crazy life here. Our time in the UG, I mean. But I've learned how lucky I am." Shiki whispered while smiling faintly.

"Of course. Most Players take each day for granted until they face the Game Master after being struck by death," I replied while crossing my arms over my chest leisurely. "You wake up, do your normal thing, hang out with friends, come home, eat, watch TV or play games, fall asleep, and repeat the process all over."

Shiki nodded to me and she murmured how it was so normal now that she thought about it.

"I've actually never thought of those things as living. This week was the one that woke me up. It made me feel more alive than I ever did when I really was."

I smirked at her before lowering my arms and extending a hand towards her and Neku. Each took their wrist and the two matched my smirk for one of their own.

"The best is still ahead, though. Once we win and come back to life." The orange haired teen said to us. We nodded at the same time.

"Neku…Rose…Thanks for these last seven days. The three of us are pretty good at this partner thing." Shiki said to us.

I shook my head and looked at the girl with my bright blue eyes and white hair.

"There can only be two synced as partners. I'd rather be a…a very protective friend, then a partner." I said to her.

This made her smile and Neku made a rude snort as he pulled his wrist away from my hand. I smirked at him while noticing a small tint of pink cross his cheeks.

"Save it for when we win this all you two idiots," Shiki made a noise like she had been insulted and I merely rolled my eyes.

"Now, are we ready for the big boss?"

"Don't you know it!"

We girls said in unison together. I began to turn away to head towards where Yodai was hiding, but Shiki stopped me by gently touching my arm.

"If…we make it through this…how about we all meet up in the RG. You, me, Rose, and Beat. But neither of you may recognize me, so…" Shiki gasped and clapped her hands with a smile. "I know! I'll bring Mr. Mew with me. The three of us can be a team again!"

I glanced down at her stuffed cat but couldn't help smirking a little.

"I'll think it over." Neku said to us.

I kept my mouth shut instead. I didn't have words to say if I knew I would live long enough to be alive.

"Let's get going. Yodai doesn't seem like he enjoys being waited on." I said softly.

The two nodded and we ran towards the other side of the station. Our feet echoed all around us even when cars zoomed past us and we had finally gotten to the other side when the Game Master made it known that he was there.

"Such a shame you three are late. I hate setting the table before cooking the main dish." Yodai said to us.

I immediately halted in my run and shot my hands out, which made the partners slam pretty hard against my arms. I heard them grunt as I muttered several bits of apologies as Shiki rubbed her stomach while glaring at the Game Master.

"We're not on the menu. You are!" She growled while she grabbed Mr. Mew by one of its paws.

I had to say, that little thing sometimes scared me. Especially when Shiki used it to fight the Noise on the other side of the dimension. Yodai looked at the three of us, but his eyes seemed to stare at Shiki and me the longest. I glared at him while my psych hummed to life, though not as nearly powerful as when I had defeated that giant crow.

"Hello, young ladies. I've been waiting for this day to arrive. The jealousy you feel for Eri must be boiling and spilling-" Yodai stopped talking in that moment.

His golden eyes bore down on Shiki and I lowered my arms just a little so the two could stand beside me.

"What's this? The jealousy in your heart- my secret spice! It's…gone." He murmured.

I smirked while glancing at the other girl. I was glad that she didn't have the envious emotion inside her anymore. That kind of feeling twisted you in odd ways that were never good for anyone.

"Have you lost your appetite?" Shiki asked with a smirk and a hand on her hip.

"But…You were green with envy! Begrudging and roasting to a golden brown color! Deliciously jealous…" Yodai said as he stared down at her, as if wondering how it had suddenly gone away.

I smirked while Shiki stepped forward so she was face to face with the Game Master.

"You're right. I was jealous. That's how lucky I am! It takes an amazing friend to make you jealous. So you can just get ready to lose! I swear I'm getting my life back! Eri's waiting in the RG, and you are NOT gonna get in my way!"

Those final words bounced off the walls around us and even just glancing at her, I could see the fire of determination soaring in her eyes. Shiki intended to win this last battle and get her body back.

And all for Eri…

"You've gone stale, young lady. But no matter," Yodai raised his arms to the ceiling and I tensed the muscles in my entire body. "A true chef can whip up a toothsome meal- even from the basest of ingredients! Mr. Kitaniji has given me a recipe that I intend to cook! Prepare to become a spicy tuna roll!"

I let a second go by before a chuckle came out of me. I hadn't thought anyone could call the three of us a spicy tuna roll. None of us burned your mouth that badly. I saw his fists suddenly come down straight for Shiki and I reached out for her.

I latched onto her arm tightly and flung her into Neku's chest. The blow meant for Shiki was coming for me pretty fast so I put my own hands above my head. When the blow hit me, I felt my bones scream in agony. Every muscle in my body shook like jello as I tried to hold the two fists so they didn't smash my brain. I let out a gasp as more weight pressed down on me. Shiki yelled my name and I managed to look up at her.

"What are y-you standing there for! Attack!" I ordered.

Neku was the one that shot a blast of fire at Yodai, sending the man staggering back. His fists slipped away from me and I darted away from him, though my legs suddenly gave out on me.

"Rose! Are you okay?" Shiki asked while helping me to my feet.

"It was just the impact. I'm fine now." I said while taking a deep breath.

I was feeling better now and it was easier to get on my feet. I turned my head and saw Yodai was angry now. He was huffing and growling and that was when he let out a rumbling yell. I saw Yodai suddenly change forms into something that looked like a giant bull the size of a building. I felt my mouth slip open in shock.

This was Yodai, the Game Master, in his Noise form. Each Reaper possessed the power to change themselves to a Noise, though it wasn't to their choosing. It all depended on their personality.

"Rose! Can you take him down with one blow?" Neku asked as Shiki and Mr. Mew went to the other dimension.

I looked at him like he was crazy and he continued to stare at me as he got several pins for his attack ready.

"Why the hell do you ask me that?! This is a fricken bull, Neku! It'll take maximum power of my psych to deal even a cut on that body!" I yelled at him as Yodai raised one of his Noise hands.

I cursed and swung out a hand. The blow that would have crushed the teen was blocked as I ran over to him.

"We don't have time for this! Yodai is massive, but with your help, I might be able to bring him down enough for you to finish him," I looked at him with a smirk then. "Are you ready for that?"

He had a matching smirk on his face and I knew the answer then. The Game Master swung an entire arm towards us like a club and we both had to jump out of the way. I landed on the bull's thigh and I scampered up to his head like a monkey. A hand came for me and I barely dodged it while lunging for the horns. I caught it quickly and swung in a wide circle before stopping in his face.

"Yodai, I think it's time you learned how to taste something sweet and something sour." I said while bringing my psych up to its full power.

A red light circled my entire hand and I slammed it into one of his eyes just as a Noise finger hit me. My hand slipped from the horn it held as blood splattered my face. The source was from the eye I had rammed and I caught myself with both hands on the ground. I hopped all the way towards Neku and landed on my feet while seeing Yodai hold his bleeding eye in pain. I smirked but then flinched and grabbed my hand that had been used for my maximum power.

I glanced down at it and saw that the entire limb was twitching and bleeding on the fingertips.

"Wh-What happened to you, Rose?" Neku asked when he noticed the dripping blood.

I tried to move my hand the best I could and all I got was three fingers of the five to bend. I cursed under my breath while watching Yodai warily.

"My psych backfires at times when I'm too close to the target. Even though I managed to strike his eye, the sacrifice I gave was too much. One hand is all I can use now." I said while bringing my uninjured hand up and let it hum with the red glow.

I put my limb into a fist and prepared for the coming attack Yodai would make. I knew just one more blow was all I could use if I was as lucky as the last one that happened. Yodai recovered from the blow I gave him and I saw blood still oozing out of the useless thing like puss from a pimple.

Disgusting.

He turned to me with a smirk on his bull lips.

"Ha! Your spears will do nothing now that I know where they come from!" He yelled at me.

I gritted my teeth as Neku looked at me in confusion. He had no idea what Yodai was talking about. I raised my clenched hand so it was balanced with my eye level and took deep breaths.

"I'm going for his right eye now. That should give you enough time to finish him off." I said while running at the Game Master.

A massive hand came flying at me and I jumped up onto his forearm. I leaped out of the way of the other limb and grabbed a hold of one of the dread locks Yodai's hair contained. I brought a knee up and slammed it into his chin before dodging a hand that tried to grab me. I succeeded in getting onto his right shoulder and as he turned to look at me, I brought my good hand to his face as the red glow pushed away from the limb.

"This isn't a spear, you idiotic bull. Let me show you a glimpse of what my psych truly is." I said as the red took the distinct shape of a wooden scythe.

It didn't fully appear, but I could feel its physical weight anyway. I swung my weapon forward and the sharp scythe dug into Yodai's other eye. I pulled the red glow out and I danced across the broad shoulders to the back of the Game Master's neck. I looked at Neku from where I stood while raising my psych above my head.

"I'll cut off his movement and when that happens, finish him off you two!" I yelled down before turning to Yodai's spine.

I saw both of his Noise hands coming for me just as I brought down my hand and bashed the center of the spine where I was able to reach. I knew when I had done my job when I felt the bone crack. I smirked and began to go to Neku when Yodai punched me in the chest. The blow made me fall to the concrete and I coughed because of the impact.

Warm liquid trickled down the corner of my lip as I strained my body to sit up. Neku ran to my side as the red of my psych vanished completely and I gasped for breath. I grasped my chest where I had been stabbed and I could feel the blood there as well. I felt the first droplet of rain fall on my face as I looked up to see Neku scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion.

"I've got him right where you can destroy him in one hit. Do it before he or I recover from my psych." I said while pounding my good fist on my chest, which instantly made the bleeding near my heart vanish completely.

I only had to deal with my struggled breathing now, which was fine at the moment. I glared at Neku only once and that was enough for him to get the hint to attack Yodai. I watched as he ran over to the bull and I got to my feet slowly. The injured hand I had wasn't going to help me with anything so I left it as is as Shiki appeared next to me.

"So that's what your psych really is? A giant scythe?" She asked while helping me to my feet.

"It's a normal sized weapon. When we've finished of Yodai for good, I'll show you what created its shape." I said while seeing the big Game Master fall to his knees.

Shiki and I made our way to stand beside Neku and he watched the both of us to make sure we didn't fall.

"Indigestible!" He immediately screamed as the rain continued to pelt us wet to the bone. "Well done…young ladies…"

I glared at him and I brought my hand up shakily. My psych hummed to life as it took on the scythe-like shape. I then raised my tired limb so it looked like I was going to decapitate Yodai.

"I hope you remember the taste of death as you fall to my dinner." I said before bringing down my weapon.

It lodged in the Game Master's head before he was erased from the UG. The energy I had used to do just that simple act had my psych sputtering and disappearing completely as I dropped my hand and closed my eyes. The fight had drawn me out so much that I just wanted to sleep now.

"Um…is that it?" Shiki asked while looking around, as if Yodai would come back at any second now.

A chuckle from me told them that there was nothing left for us to worry about. The ex-Game Master wasn't going to come back any more.

"We did it! We won!" Neku yelled, making me jump.

I hadn't expected him to act so excited, but I guess you would if you've beat the Game.

"Woo-hoo! Now we'll all come back to life!" Shiki screamed while doing an air punch.

I smiled tiredly at them as a flash of light burst around us. It startled the partners and the girl demanded to know what was going on.

"Shiki…I don't think it's a bad light. It's probably a pat on the back as congratulations." Neku said to her.

She nodded her head and then grinned with a laugh.

"You said 'Shiki'! That's the first time you used my name, Neku!" She said and I smirked at her.

The orange haired teen rubbed the back of his head and asked if that was true. I nodded and he frowned at me while muttering that it was a rhetorical question.

"Neku? Rose? I'll see you two on the other side. You know the meeting place: Hachiko!" Shiki said to us.

"Heh. It's a date." The boy said.

I felt the four eyes staring at me to see if I was going to confirm the date. I looked at them with a forlorn smile and a shake of my head. The girl frowned at me and asked why I wasn't going to meet up with them at Hachiko. I bit my lip because I didn't want to tell them why I wouldn't meet up. I wanted to give them a lie, but I decided to change my mind and say the truth.

"I…I can't go back to my parents. I've been like this for so long that there's no way I can convince them of anything but death. They saw my body after the murder, they know that I died. I can't change that…no matter how much I want to." I said as tears began to pool in my eyes.

I rubbed them in hopes that the tears wouldn't fall, but that only made it worse. They began to fall and I quickly wiped my cheeks dry with my sleeve.

"How will that stop you from meeting up with us at Hachiko? You can just come and live with me until you figure out a way to convince your parents you didn't die!" Shiki offered.

I looked at her with my red rimmed blue eyes and smiled at her. I hadn't been given something like that for a long time. Aesh was the only one that ever did that for me.

"Thanks…I'll keep that in mind." I said to her while pulling out my phone.

She gave me her number as we glanced at Neku. He looked at us and sighed. With much annoyance and convincing, we both got his number.

"I'll see you two at Hachiko then!" Shiki said and the two of us nodded.

I opened my eyes and began coughing like mad. I rolled onto my knees and held my chest as blood painted pictures on the ground below me. When I had just recovered, I looked up to see that I was at Hachiko. I scrunched my eyebrows together and pressed my forehead against the blood-soaked ground.

"God damn it all!" I hissed.


	8. Week Two, Day One: Replay

**Week Two, Day One: Replay**

"God damn it…" I growled while getting to my feet. "I can't believe this happened! He said nothing about this!"

I took out my phone and raised it over my head. With an enraged scream, I threw it onto the ground as hard as I could. The only thing that accomplished was hearing the phone hit pavement really hard. I knew it wouldn't crack or malfunction no matter what I did to it. The Game kept you from ruining anything but yourself and other Players. As angry as I was, I took the phone from the ground and opened it to see that the mission mail was already here.

_**"Game I: X = 30 + 74. T = 60 min. Incompletes will be destroyed."**_

I bit my lip so hard that I drew blood as I shoved the phone back into the pocket of my skirt. I was steamed badly and that kept me from thinking about the mission; so this Game Master had it going for him pretty well. I glanced around to see if I could find any Player's nearby me and I sighed when I saw several, though they were pretty weak. With my luck, I'd kill them within two minutes of forming the pact with them.

I growled to myself and turned away from all of them and headed towards the scramble crossing. I hadn't even made it completely when I ran into Neku, who was shocked to see me. I opened my mouth to say something when I began coughing once again. I put a hand over my lips as the warm blood coated the palm. I looked up at him as I lowered my hand after I stopped.

"None of these Players are strong enough for you or me. Not if we want to-"

"We? Who said we were going to be like last week? I sure as hell didn't!"

I frowned at him but I could understand why he was so angry with me.

I started to say something when a crab Noise pinched at my ankles. I spun around and kicked it before a dizzy spell hit me. I staggered back and fell against Neku's chest while more Noise appeared around the two of us. I cursed and raised my hand as my psych began to fizzle before spurting out of existence. I couldn't use my psych in the condition I was in.

"If you want to live, you'll have to forge a pact with-"

"There's no way in hell I'd ever do that with you!"

Neku interrupted with a glare sent my way. I returned it with one of my own as Noise jumped at the two of us. Before I began to attack, a shiver went passed me and I turned my head to see that the boy had just forged a pact with someone without his consent. My eyes widened and he matched my face as he looked around to see who had done it with him.

"Too late! We've got to get rid of the Noise if you want to see your partner!" I yelled while kicking one of the crabs as hard as I could.

These Noise were pretty weak compared to last weeks. They were destroyed with ease and I rubbed my chest where I had been killed and struck by Yodai. It hurt a lot. Probably a bruise and inner damage, but nothing that would kill me.

I turned to Neku and opened my mouth to speak when someone spoke before me.

"Howdy. The name's Yoshiya Kiryu. But Mother and Father call me Joshua," I spun to see who was talking and it surprised me that it was a boy around our age with sort of silver gray hair, a short sleeved pale blue shirt, and jeans. Neku came to a conclusion before I did as he tried not to look annoyed and disappointed.

"I guess you can call me Joshua, too- seeing as how you're my dear, dear partner." He said with a chuckle.

The orange haired teen asked what the hell he was talking about as I glared at Kiryu- or Joshua. I didn't trust this boy at all. He was already beginning to get on my nerves with how he was talking to Neku. I'd hate to see what happens when he starts talking to me.

"You mean you didn't want to be partners with me? You seem like such a pro. I decided to just…help myself." Joshua said to him.

"A pro? How could you know that?" Neku replied while crossing his arms.

The other boy chuckled and the hairs on the back of my neck tingled at just that small noise. He answered by saying that he had been watching the orange teen and was very impressed by what he saw.

"I'd rather be Rose's partner." Neku muttered just quietly enough that I heard him.

I frowned but made no move to make a retort as Joshua captured our attention once again. I swear he was ignoring me on purpose though.

"Today's the first day and all…Let's just take it easy and give this area a scan, eh?" He asked with a smirk.

Neku grumbled under his breath but took out his Player Pin anyway. With a flick of his thumb, he caught the pin and I knew he could see into the thoughts of everyone in the RG. Since his eyes were closed, I had no idea what he was thinking at the moment. But when I saw his eyebrows scrunch together and sweat start forming at his temples, I realized that he was seeing something that must have involved himself.

When he put the pin away, I saw him flinch and grab his head in pain. I could only imagine what he was feeling because of what he saw.

"Something wrong? Are we not feeling well?" Joshua asked in a tone I knew for sure was mocking. "Is this going to be a problem? I need you to pull it together. Unlike some people, I'm new at this. I'm expecting a bang-up job from you, Mr. Escort."

I glared and chose that moment to step in. I walked over to stand beside Neku and I crossed my arms over my chest.

"He's fine. I doubt that he needs you telling him things that he doesn't need to worry about." I snapped.

Joshua looked at me in the eye for the first time and that was when I saw that he had purple eyes. I didn't make a move to back down as he smirked at me in a sadistic manner.

"I think there's a lone Player at the scramble crossing you'd be interested in meeting. Carcinofolk Noise are really pesky." He said.

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists tightly. I knew that whoever Joshua was, he did not want me to be around Neku at the moment. I glanced at the boy to see that he had finally recovered from whatever it was that he had heard and he looked at me with slightly heavy breathing.

"I'll meet you at the point where we're supposed to go to, Neku. I don't care how much you hate me now; I promised her that I'd do this." I said to him before running towards the scramble crossing.

I had just reached the crossing when I heard a girl screaming in pain. I rushed towards the source of the sound and saw three or four of those red crabs- Carcinofolk Noise -attacking a girl on the ground, with her arms over her head. All I could see was bright blonde hair as I stomped over while destroying the Noise.

"Are you okay? They didn't hurt you that bad, did it?" I asked while getting down to her level.

At the sound of my voice, she looked up. The world seemed to suddenly fall apart about me when I saw her eyes. They were emerald green, the same color as their namesake. My mouth suddenly became dry and I felt sick to my stomach. The pain in my chest began acting up and it was all I could do to not cough blood again.

"Those pinches really hurt, actually! Thank you for saving me!" She said while getting to her feet.

I took a step back and she watched me with her head tilted to the side. I didn't understand how she could be so happy and calm when she was dead. How she could act like she didn't know me.

"I guess I should ask if you want to form a pact with me. Is that alright? If not, it's fine! I'll find someone else before those weird creatures attack me again." She said while offering her hand to me.

I continued to stare as it felt like my world began twisting even more. I opened my mouth to speak and I closed it again. I couldn't find any words to say to this girl. But I knew that if I did forge a pact with her, it wouldn't destroy either of us. I could see that she had a strong psych inside her, even if it wasn't like mine or Neku's.

I lifted my hand while noticing that it was perfectly healed from the fight with Yodai. There were no marks left on it to show that I had even fought the previous Game Master.

"Does you lifting your hand mean you're accepting my offer for a pact?" The girl asked me.

I coughed a little while nodding my head sort of hesitantly. I didn't know how this was going to end, just like with Neku and Shiki. She smiled at me and clapped her hand over mine happily. I felt a spark of energy crowd inside me from my palms and then what felt like chains connected me with the girl. I realized that this must be what it felt like to have a partner as she smiled at me brightly.

"We've got ourselves a pact with each other! That's really cool! Oh, I'm sorry; I forgot to ask you what your name is."

I rubbed the back of my head tiredly while flipping open my phone. The mission mail stared back at me but I had nothing else to look at for the moment. I closed it and put it back in my pocket.

"I'm Rose Cermai." I said while walking passed her and towards the Ten-Four Building.

She kept up with me easily and asked where we were going. I glanced at her and tried to keep my face nonchalant with a smirk.

"The mission mail is hard to figure out, since I'm no good at math. But I know for a fact that we need to go to Ten-Four. How long do we have?" I saw her look down at her palm, where the timer was.

It said that we had ten minutes left and I scoffed while grabbing her wrist.

"There's a Reaper up ahead, so it won't take long for us to destroy them. Do you know what your abilities are when you fight Noise?" I asked while glancing at her.

With a shake of the head, I sighed as we got to the red Reaper. He stared at the two of us and let out a sigh.

"Defeat these Noise. It's an easy task, so you can find out your partners abilities." He said to us.

I looked at my partner with a smirk and she did the same back to me. Without a word, Noise jumped out at us and she was gone to the other dimension.

"Wow! This is so cool! Can you hear me, Rose?" I heard her voice echo in my head and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Of course I can. Partners have links that can't be shattered easily. Now, let's see what you can do!" I said while attacking the red crab that came at me.

I prepared to attack it with my psych when it suddenly vanished out of thin air, which surprised me enough that I got pinched by a crab. I destroyed that one while hearing my partner going on about how she's got this amazing power that can throw the very air at the Noise. She mentioned once or twice that there was a glowing yellow orb or green orb floating in front of her face at certain points of battle.

"I'd recommend grabbing those lights. We just might get a stronger attack from them if we did that." I said to her while stomping on one of the pincers that came close to me.

She said something but I didn't hear it as we continued fighting the crab Noise. Soon, an explosion of energy came to me. Words bubbled from my mouth as I jumped into the air while doing a summersault. I couldn't stop them from coming out as the new energy I had danced at my fingertips.

"Let's bring down the sky!" My partner cried.

"Using our own breath!" I yelled.

And then, sharp blades of wind spun around me and destroyed all of the Noise surrounding us. The sudden attack soon vanished as I landed on my feet. The blonde haired girl appeared beside me and I could see that she was breathing hard from exhilaration. I glanced at the timer on her wrist and saw that we had less than two minutes to get to the building.

Without explaining anything, I grabbed her wrist and yanked her after me. The wall had been brought down after we destroyed the Noise so we didn't hit it. I knew we just barely made it as I saw Neku and Joshua. The orange teen saw my partner as she smiled.

"How unfair. The timer didn't go off for us until we got here. When did you two get here?" I asked while letting go of her wrist.

I was frowned at but I glared right back at him.

"Just a few seconds ago, like you." Neku muttered.

I shook my head as my partner began talking animatedly to Joshua, which surprised me. I didn't think that it was possible for someone to like conversing with that boy. I heard the orange teen ask me if I knew what the thing to my right was. I turned my head to see a huge junk heap standing maybe thirty feet in the air. My mouth fell open before I turned back to him.

"No, I have no idea what that is." I said with surprise in my voice.

That was when I heard someone groan and I turned my head back to the junk heap.

"You're zetta slow!" An adult male screamed.

I just happened to look up at the near top to see that there was someone sitting there on it. My eyes widened as one thought ran through my mind:

Game Master.

Joshua told the others to look at the top of the junk and I knew that the three did. Neku was the first to ask if there really was someone up there as they groaned again.

"I said, you're zetta slow! How long does it take to crack a Z-class code, you factoring hectopascals!" He screamed down at us.

I scrunched my eyebrows together as nearly all of us repeated that last word. I heard Neku gasp in pain while moaning about his head. I turned to look at him when the adult on the junk heap jumped down from the top. I had to face him while my partner bounced over to my side.

"Sho Minamimoto. Remember the name. I'm the new Game Master."

Yep, I had been right. He was the Game Master for this week. Joshua said something that I didn't hear and whatever it was caused the Game Master to actually look at him. I saw his lips move in a gasp and his eyes to turn to surprise.

"Wait a minute. You…You're a Player this time around?" Sho asked.

For a moment, I thought he was talking about me as Neku murmured under his breath something incoherent.

"Now that's a happy miscalculation," He said with a smirk and a flick of his black hat.

In fact, everything he wore was black. He had a grayish brown hair color hiding under that hat with a long black trench coat with a lot of buttons and matching gloves. The collar was popped open and you could see his collar bone and the strange necklace hiding under the outfit.

"This brings me one iteration closer to my desired solution!"

Neku asked him what the hell he was talking about as I clenched my fist. If I wanted to defeat him now, this was going to be the best time. But I had a feeling that Sho knew if I was going to attack him. I heard Joshua chuckle and I glanced at him with a frown.

"Day One and the GM's already putting in an appearance? Not one for tradition, are you?" He asked sardonically.

Sho instantly frowned at him for some reason.

"Tradition is garbage! Crunch!" He suddenly yelled while slamming his fists together. "I'll add it to the heap! This is my Game. And I only allow two things: Flawless calculations and beauty!"

Joshua sighed and brushed some of his hair out of his eyes while saying, "I'd heard you were quite the eccentric-"

"Some Old Horses Can Always Hear Their Owner Approach. Now, time for a little quiz. How much weight will I let you Players carry in the UG?" Sho asked us.

I muttered under my breath that I could only imagine what the answer was.

"One yoctogram!" He shouted.

"Oh! That means we're on the atomic level, right?" My partner asked with a faint smile.

The Game Master smirked and nodded his head while saying that none of us had any value here. I glanced around and noticed that we had a ton of Players partnered at the building. They were chattering with each other as well. Sho saw and he pulled out a megaphone. My eyes widened as I realized he was getting ready to scream into that thing. I had just covered my ears when he spoke in the megaphone.

"Attention, all yoctograms! (It's X 2) Die!" He screamed and Noise jumped up all around us.

Players screamed all over as they were taken by surprise, but I quickly attacked whatever Noise came at us. Neku's partner and mine went to the other dimension and we began fighting a Noise rhino together.

"The horn is going to be the tough part to dodge! Get ready!" I said as the creature reared onto its hind legs in preparation to slam down its horn.

I leaped out of the way and Neku did the same. I threw out a hand and managed to cause a wound to appear on the rhino's shoulder, though it was thanks to my partner. It let out a steam of air and came barreling at me.

"You've gotten slow, Rose!" Neku cried as I barely got out of the way from the stampede.

I scoffed and hopped onto the back of the Noise.

"Who say's that? My partner and I have this Noise down!" I said as I bashed both of my hands in the base of its skull.

I had a feeling my partner did the same and with the double blow on both sides of the dimensions, we got the creature destroyed. I landed on my feet as the partners appeared and I saw that several other Players had been taken out thanks to the Noise. I walked over to mine and checked to make sure she wasn't all that much hurt. She only laughed at me.

"Why would I be hurt? Oh, I never told you my name!" She said.

I shook my head and traveled towards Neku and Joshua, who glanced at me with a mocking smirk.

"And with lil Rose's help, we'll be able to cruise through this week with yours and her psychs, my brilliance, and our excellent teamwork." He said to us.

I gritted my teeth at those words. Who was the one that said I was going to help these two? I had my own partner to take care of this time around! As if Neku heard my thought, he turned to look at me and his eyes asked who the bubbly person beside me was. I sighed and touched the girls arm gently, which caused her to look at me with a bright smile.

"This is my partner, Aesh. She was a best friend of min- Of that singer, Rose." I said softly.

Neku then understood who this girl was perfectly. My best friend from back when I was still alive. And she was dead like us.


	9. Week Two, Day Two: Black Noise

**Week Two, Day Two: Black Noise**

"Hey, Rosie! Get up!"

I gritted my teeth and opened my eyes to see Aesh staring down at me. She still had that smile she wore yesterday. I rubbed my eyes while sitting up. I saw that we were at the scramble crossing with Neku and Joshua, who was talking on his phone. I blinked several times before realizing what Aesh had called me.

"Why did you call me that? Usually it's lil Ro or Rose." I said to her.

She chuckled at me and offered a hand to get me standing. I did the same and waited for her answer on why she called me Rosie.

"Don't you know the song? It goes like this," Aesh grabbed my hands and danced in circles while singing, "Ring around the rosies, pocketful of posies! Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down!"

With a happy laugh, my friend dragged me down so we both fell. I felt the eyes of everyone on the two of us but Aesh seemed to be ignoring them without much of an effort. That was the time when I noticed Neku was rubbing his temple in pain. I could only imagine what he had done this time as all of our phones rang at once, signaling that we had the mission for the day.

I flipped open my phone and my partner huddled next to me to see what we had to do today. Before I was able to read the first letter, I felt a horrible pain in my chest bite into me. The phone fell from my open hand and smashed against the ground. Aesh let out a little yell of surprise as I started coughing. I fell to my knees and wheezed through the coughs. Someone touched my shoulder as my blood seeped through my closed hand.

"What's happening? Why are you bleeding so badly, Rose?" Aesh asked me with concern laced deeply in her voice.

I couldn't speak no matter how much I wanted and I saw Neku step towards me. I didn't even need to look up to know that he was concerned with how much liquid was coming out of me just from several coughs. I felt the bleeding lessen with each new quake that hit me until it was completely gone. I saw the orange haired teen bend down just a little to see if I was okay as Aesh tugged me to my feet.

"What brought that on all of a sudden, Rose? I thought you were going to die!" She said to me in a false tone of playfulness.

I knew my best friend well. Even though she was trying to act like she wasn't all that concerned, I knew by the way she kept glancing down at my bloodied hand that she was secretly worried deeply for me. I took a deep breath and turned my bright blue eyes towards her.

"I got an injury before the Game started that just won't heal completely. It's no big deal; I won't slow you down from it, Aesh." I said to her.

I knew that my words brought more questions to my friend but she chose not to voice them at the moment. I could still feel the burning in my lungs and chest from the blood even as I noticed that Neku was beginning to get angry with Joshua. I didn't understand why or when he had left my side as we walked towards the two boys.

"Just let Rose and Aesh take care of the mission today. They're good enough to do it for one day, right girls?" The kid asked with a taunting smirk on his face.

I glared at him for obvious reasons. I wasn't going to be able to complete the mission with just my partner. I didn't want to chance a fight with Noise so soon after I recovered from my bloody coughs.

"I can't afford to let her handle it!"

I winced at the complete anger Neku used while spitting out those words. Aesh saw it but she couldn't say anything to defend me because she didn't know what was going on. I understood even as the orange haired teen turned his eyes towards me. There, I saw everything he felt for me in one instant. He was angry, that was obvious. But I also noticed that his eyes showed that he felt betrayed.

After seeing that, I couldn't keep my eyes locked with his. They cast themselves downwards to the ground forlornly.

"She's the one that helped get Shiki into the mess she's in now. I don't want to put her life on the shoulders of someone that lied to us."

I closed my eyes tightly while clenching my bloody hand into a fist. I hated how angry Neku was with me, but I couldn't defend myself. I knew how much I deserved his anger. I knew it should have been Shiki instead, though. She's the one that I spoke about first to him, even though I had known what would happen.

* * *

_"Where are we?" Neku asked._

_I could only imagine what they saw because I was blinded by the bright light. I heard Shiki say that she wasn't able to see a thing just like I had figured out. I heard someone call out to the three of us and that seemed to be the moment that everything dimmed down, allowing us to see once again. I was the first to see Beat walking towards us, but Neku's partner was who called out first._

_"You're safe! Thank goodness!" She cried._

_He nodded and asked if all of us were okay. I nodded for the two that wouldn't answer because before Neku could even try to speak, Shiki began lecturing Beat on how worried he had made us. After he apologized to us, all of them began to wonder if we were alive again._

_"I'm afraid not. Not yet, anyway." The sudden male voice shocked the four of us and Beat was the one that demanded to know who was here with us._

_That was when a man with more tame hair than Yodai and sunglasses appeared before us. He was smiling at us, but I knew that he wasn't trying to be nice. _

_"Hello and congratulations. You all are the victors. Tell me, did you find the Game enjoyable?" He asked._

_None of us answered his question. I doubted any of us wanted anything to do with this man. It was obvious that he was a Reaper, because none of us had seen him during the week at all._

_"Oh, pardon my manners. I am Megumi Kitaniji. Conductor of the Game, and loyal servant to the Composer. With that out of the way, I must regard each of your fates," I watched as he folded his hands behind his back while continuing to speak. "As per the Composer's decision, the number of Players to be given new life this round is…One."_

_Neku and Shiki yelled out in shock at those words. I glanced at the two as the girl told Megumi that she thought everyone got to be alive again and that it wasn't fair to the others._

_"Any and all specifics are decided by the Composer. That is His exclusive and incontrovertible right."_

_"Why do you think all of us got this far?! We wanted to live again! Every last one of us wanted to-!"_

_"Hold on!"_

_Beat stepped in front of Shiki before she could finish her words. She wanted to know what he wanted as he rubbed the back of his head while looking at his feet. He suddenly turned to Megumi with what I could only imagine was a calm expression._

_"I…I ain't goin' back. I wanna be a Reaper!"_

_My eyes widened at those words. I had not expected them to come from Beat's mouth. I thought he would have been thrilled to go home more than any one. I couldn't believe that he was going to try to be a Reaper._

_"So how 'bout it, yo? Make me part a' your crew!"_

_Kitaniji put his hands on his chin as he looked over Beat. I could tell that he was thinking of what to do with him. I knew for sure that Beat would be a good Reaper because he was simple minded on certain things and had a bad temper like Uzuki. The pink haired woman and him would get into fights all the time, and I'm sure that would liven the Reapers up a lot._

_"Very well. Your wish is within my authority to grant. The Reapers welcome you." The Conductor said._

_The two demanded to know why Beat would do something like this but they didn't receive an answer. I remained silent as Shiki turned to look at me and Neku._

_"Why do you think Beat would join the Reapers?" She asked us._

_I didn't have an answer to give and by the looks of it, the orange haired one didn't either. I happened to glance up at that moment to see that Megumi was watching. I almost stopped myself from glaring at him and turning both of my hands into fists. At least, that was what I tried to do._

_The limb that I had used to ruin Yodai's eye sent a jolt of pain through me when I tried to move it. I flinched while looking down at it, even though I knew it wasn't going to look any better or worse than the last time._

_"Rose, I would like to know your assessment of these two now. You can't stall forever."_

_My heart sank at those words. I snapped my head up to glare even deeper at the man as Neku and Shiki turned to stare at me in shock. Megumi saw the looks that I was receiving and he feigned shock from behind those sunglasses of his._

_"You mean you've been around these two for an entire week and didn't tell them? Well, looks like you better tell them who you really are now." The Conductor told me._

_I gritted my teeth as a red shock ran up the length of my good arm. He had known that I hadn't told them anything about myself besides my name and who I used to be. Every Reaper knew that. I looked at Shiki to see that she was asking me silently what was going on. With a stiff sigh, I answered what both were asking me._

_"I'm…not a Player." I murmured to myself._

_I knew that they would think that I was a Reaper myself, but I didn't want to tell them. It made me sick just thinking of what I truly was._

_"And she's not a Reaper," I glared at Megumi in hopes that it would make him not talk; but that wasn't going to happen. "Rose Cermai died that night, but she wasn't supposed to. She was intended to live for five more years before she had to play the Game. We were put in a jam for months when she arrived at our feet. There was no way she could play now because she may have tried to kill herself. So, we gave her the task of luring Players into trusting her and either killing them, or reporting to us. When she doesn't want to do that, we have her play for the Reaper's side. This will continue until her appointed time of death, and Rose can't stop it."_

_I felt the four eyes of Neku and Shiki staring at me with looks that I wouldn't decipher. I didn't want to know what they were thinking now- or what they thought of me. I doubt I could bear it._

_"Rose…would you have killed us if Yodai hadn't hurt you?" Shiki asked me._

_I looked up at her with a glare that made her flinch. I couldn't believe she'd ever ask me that. But with the information they just got, I would have been doing the same._

_"It would have been better than watching as I tell Megumi who should die and who should live again. You wouldn't have felt so betrayed then." I said to her._

_I saw tears building up in the back of her eyes and I glanced at Neku. Instead of feeling anger towards me, I saw that he was more than that. He was pissed off._

_"You should have told us what you were from the beginning." He growled to me._

_This brought on anger of my own. I stepped forward until I was as close as I felt comfortable with. He said nothing as Shiki watched both of us with tears still in her eyes._

_"I'm the one that has been saving your ass left and right all week. In the process, I didn't realize until Day Three how I had come to think of you two as my friends. The first I've had since I've been here. So forgive me if I didn't want to tell you guys something that would have been over looked if I hadn't been injured."_

_"So you would have killed us if you didn't damage your arm!" Neku accused._

_"I can kill you right now with just a twitch of my eye if I want! Don't assume just because I've got a wound I can't fight!" I yelled at him._

_Shiki stared at the two of us as a spark of electricity flashed between him and me. The anger that we both had was practically palpable in the air. I'm sure that we would have gotten into an even more heated argument if Megumi didn't choose that moment to open his damn mouth._

_"I'm still waiting to know who deserves to go home, Rose. I don't have much time left. We've got to prepare for tomorrow."_

_I turned my eyes to glare at the Reaper and instantly, the red outline of a scythe went straight for him. It embedded itself in the ground at his feet, inches from his toes. The aura was growing brighter with each second as I walked towards him._

_"Shiki has unfinished business in the RG. She's got a best friend that might not go on to do the thing she dreams of doing because the two got in a fight before her death. Neku has no memory of what happened before his death, which I suspect is because you took them as his entry fee. If any of them deserve to be brought back, it's Shiki. Now don't tempt me to kill you, Megumi. The next will rip out your heart." I threatened while grabbing the scythe and yanking it out of the ground._

_I spun back around to face the two partners while the weapon vanished into thin air. Kitaniji made a coughing noise before looking at Shiki with a smile, though he kept an eye on me. I knew that he was worried that I truly would kill him here and now, but I didn't want to make him think otherwise._

_"There you have it. Rose chose Shiki Misaki. Not only that, but since we grade Players according to their performance during the missions and you scored the highest, you would be going home even if she picked Neku." Megumi said to her._

_Shiki shook her head and demanded that Neku be taken in her place. I knew that no matter what she said now, she'd be going home. I expected nothing less from the Conductor. Once he's chosen someone, he doesn't let them switch for any reason._

_"Rose…" I looked towards Neku with a glare that demanded to know why he was talking to me. "What happens to the one who gets left behind?"_

_I stared at him with that glare for a few more seconds until I let my anger subside enough that I wasn't going to hurt anyone. I put my hands in my pocket and pulled out my cell phone, just for comfort at the moment._

_"You can reenter the Game with me if you want to live still, or become a Reaper with Beat. The third option is for Megumi or I to destroy you. If the third is your choice, let him do it. You've seen what my psych can do, and I don't want that to happen." I said to him._

_I watched as he went through all of my words once again in his head. I knew when he came to a conclusion because he then turned towards Shiki. The two of them began whispering and that was when Megumi looked down at me with a smirk._

_"If you wish to become a Reaper-"_

_"I'm going to be a Player. I haven't been a Reaper yet, so what makes you think I will this time? And Kitaniji," at this I brought a dagger that was created by my psych to the Conductor's throat. "I will personally kill you if you use Shiki as Neku's entry fee for the second week."_

_He stared down at me in confusion as Shiki said that she would go back. I lowered the dagger from the Reapers throat and it quickly vanished as I stared at the two teenagers. As Megumi began to send her off, I saw that she was smiling at me._

_"If you ever do get back to life, go to Hachiko and wait with me for Neku! And promise me you'll take care of him in my place!" Shiki told me._

_I felt my eyes widen just a little at her words. Even though she knew that I had been the one that said that she deserved to be alive again, she was acting as if we were still friends. I could feel a tear wetting my eye as I smirked at her._

_"Since you're going to be waiting for us, I'll take that promise." I said just seconds before she vanished in a cloud of white dust._

_I felt my body relax as Megumi asked Neku what he was going to do. It was a no brainer to me that he said he wanted to be entered in the Game again, just like I had implied he would._

_"Alright, but before the next Game begins, allow Rose to return your entry fee."_

_I rolled my eyes and walked over to the two. Neku stared at me with shock clouding his annoyance and this brought my lips into a slight twitch at their corners._

_"Yeah, I've had a hold of them all week. But don't worry, I didn't look at them. I wouldn't be able to anyway." I said while stepping closer than what was comfortable for me._

_That meant I was brushing noses with the orange haired boy. I noticed a pink tinge to his cheeks and this made me frown at him._

_"I'm not going to kiss you, idiot! This is how it works to return your fee if I have them." I said before closing my eyes._

_I then bumped my forehead with his and remained in that position until my body began to tingle. All of a sudden, a shock went through me that had the hair on the back of my neck sitting up. Neku lurched back and the connection immediately cut off, though he had regained everything that had been his. I stepped away and watched as he realized that his entry fee had been his memories, though it should have been obvious when he found out that he couldn't remember anything that first day._

_"Memories are the single greatest determinant of a person's identity. A worthy entry fee, don't you think?" Megumi said, though he didn't get an answer._

_Neku suddenly gasped and he looked at me with surprise. I heard him ask me where the rest of the memories were and I scrunched my eyebrows together lightly._

_"I can't remember anything about my own death! I was looking up at the tag mural in Udagawa…Then the next thing I remember is waking up in the scramble!" He said to us._

_Megumi sighed and said that it had nothing to do with the Game as I shrugged my shoulders. I knew that I had returned everything that had been given to me as his entry fee. If I had missed one, there would be a headache in me until I gave it all back._

_"I wouldn't benefit from taking away your death and neither would Rose. Anyway, as for your new entry fee-"_

_"You're taking my memory again?!"_

_"-A Player's entry fee is that which they hold most dear. That is the rule. And I have taken the liberty of collecting yours."_

_My mouth dropped when I heard that. I had warned Megumi not to do such a thing and what does he do? He does it anyway! I was stone still for a few seconds until the Reaper said what Neku was playing for:_

_Shiki Misaki._

_"Though I must be honest, it was a pretty big decision. It was her or Rose, but they were of equal value to you. I would have chosen the latter if the Composer hadn't said to use Shiki." Kitaniji said to him._

_I found myself walking over to the Reaper as he shoved Neku into a light that would take him back to the scramble. I knew that he knew I was still there even as I turned towards him._

_"You are the worst Reaper I know, Megumi! I said I'd kill you and I'll do it! Shiki didn't-!"_

_I saw him reach out and grab my throat before I could back away and he lifted me off of the ground. I struggled to breathe as I dug my nails into his skin, though it must have felt like a puppy nipping at him._

_"I've given you your own entry fee this time around because you've become annoying. This time, you will be playing for your psych; the thing that lets you destroy Noise instantly."_

_I felt his hand squeeze my throat and I gasped for air. I saw him bring up his free hand and by the way I could see it, the thing looked like a dagger. I had no idea what he was going to do at this point, so I could only imagine what was going to happen._

_"Sho Minamimoto is the new Game Master. He has requested that you be…internally injured for the entire week just so you're forced to have a partner. I've decided to acknowledge it." He said to me._

_Before I could ask what he meant, his hand sliced into my chest, directly where I had been killed. It hurt so bad that I immediately screamed, which made me lose all the air I had in my body._

* * *

Just thinking about what had been done to me made my body begin to shake with the beginnings of more coughing. I was able to suppress it without any trouble as Neku said that he'd be damned if he let Shiki die because he didn't do a mission.

"I'm winning this Game and I'm not relying on other Players or Rose to do it for me."

Joshua smirked to himself and made a noise that had the three of us wondering what the hell that meant.

"Here's me playing the world's tiniest violin," he taunted with a sigh. "Every Player here has put something they loved on the line. You have one of the girls you cherish, Aesh probably has a best friend as well, and Rose…well, I haven't figured it out yet."

I glared at him and opened my mouth to say something when my friend stopped me. I scowled but let her keep me quiet as Neku managed to calm himself down enough to think better.

"How about this then? We complete the mission first, and then we can do whatever you want." He muttered.

Joshua didn't seem to like that idea, but by the looks of it, he wasn't going to object. He was going to get what he wanted, wasn't he?

"I suppose. So, what's the mission?" He asked.

Aesh handed me my phone and I flipped it open while looking at the message that contained the mission. I bit my lip when I read it as Neku asked me what the hell it said.

_**"Game II: Acquire the square root of three Au pin. T= three hundred min. Incompletes will be destroyed."**_ I replied.

I knew my elements well enough to understand that Au was meant for gold, but that was about it. I heard Neku say the same thing to Joshua, who asked about the square root of three.

"Um…the square root for three is one point seven three two zero five zero eight," Aesh said and all of us stared at her like she was crazy.

I had known that she was smart; but I hadn't known she could do math that fast!

"A street!" I suddenly yelled.

This caused everyone to look at me like I was insane. I frowned at Neku and my friend for doing that, but she only giggled at me so I knew she was kidding.

"Ah, good idea! Reapers use numbers to refer to each of Shibuya's streets. Route One, Route Two, and so on. I suggest we look at Route Three." Joshua said before I could explain myself.

I glared at him as Neku asked which street Route Three was. His partner began to open his mouth to answer when I clamped my clean hand over his lips.

"It's the road leading to Molco from Cadoi City. Now let's hurry up and get there, I'm sick of this already." I growled while pointing my eyes at Joshua.

Aesh laughed when she realized I had called him 'this' and she grabbed my hand tightly. She ran passed the boys and held onto Neku's as well. Joshua was forced to run after us without being pulled, though I think he was happy about it.

We ran through the department and before we left the scramble, I noticed that there were several Reapers all over that I hadn't noticed before. The Reaper that blocked our passage noticed us immediately and he caught Neku's attention.

"Destroy the Noise possessing the people." He said to us.

I was just beginning to bring out my pin when Neku beat me to it and brought all the Noise that possessed two people towards us. I frowned but managed to fight them off with Aesh's help, though she did most of it.

"Rose, are you sure you're okay? I could literally feel how weak you were!" She exclaimed once all of the Noise were destroyed.

I looked at my partner with a sigh as the two boys looked over at us. I didn't want any of them to know just what happened to me before the Game started because Neku might think I was doing it on purpose. So I nodded towards her while hearing one of the people that we freed Noise from begin to talk. I didn't really hear much since Aesh and I weren't that close, but it looked like Neku and Joshua did.

"It looks like we've got to win a golden pin at the Slam Off in Molco." The orange one muttered.

I groaned to myself because that meant one of us had to play Tin Pin. I was horrible at that game, and I knew my best friend was as well. I didn't know if Joshua and Neku were though, so there was a glimmer of hope left. We walked over to the Reaper and when he saw that we had released the ones that were possessed, the wall was taken down.

"So who's good at playing Tin Pin? I'll admit right now that I fail horribly at the game!" Aesh said with a goofy smile on her face.

I glanced at the two boys to see that neither of them was going to answer my partner. She seemed to realize it as well and the smile turned into a pout. I turned to stare at my friend as I gave what I hoped was an apologetic smile.

"I'm as bad at it as you are, so don't worry. We'll find out about these jerks when we get there." I assured her.

The sudden insult made Aesh laugh and Neku frowned at me. I heard him mutter that he wasn't being a jerk and a glare from me made him shut up because I knew it was true. He didn't have to act so mean to me for betraying him and Shiki, even though I knew where he was coming from.

We were almost to Molco when Neku turned to look at his partner with a pissed off frown. I checked to see what Joshua was doing and I found that he was taking his time walking towards us. There was a gap of maybe ten feet between us and him. I could understand why Neku was pissed.

"Get a move on!" The orange haired teen ordered.

Joshua merely sighed as he brushed some of his hair out of his eyes.

"I don't do the whole sweating thing." He muttered.

I bit the inside of my lip and opened my mouth to speak. Before the words came out, something struck me across the thigh. I staggered forward and fell to my knees while turning to see what had hit me. I felt my eyes widen in shock when a black kangaroo Noise appeared behind me.

Aesh yelped and came behind me to lift me onto my feet. Neku took several steps back towards his partner while asking if the Noise that was appearing were actual Noise.

"Black Noise? They look different than the usual riffraff." Joshua muttered.

Aesh brought me towards the two boys as I pressed a hand against my bleeding thigh. This was really bad. I couldn't lose precious blood when I keep coughing it up! I'll die before the week is up.

Neku asked what the plan was and I felt his eyes linger on me the most. I struggled to keep from leaning on my partner as I looked up at him.

"We'll be ripped to pieces if we try to run. Our best bet is to take them out right now." I said while bringing up my free hand.

Aesh nodded to show she agreed before she was transported to the other dimension. Joshua did the same and Neku hovered beside me with his pins ready.

"Are you going to be able to even fight?" I heard him ask.

"It'll be tough, but I'll somehow manage. I suffered through a week with you and Shiki, remember?" I teased before the black Noise came racing at us.

Neku rolled his eyes before attacking the first kangaroo that came our way. Another went for me and I threw out my hand to explode the Noise. A shock went through me before my psych even worked and I flinched. I gritted my teeth while remembering that my psych had been taken away, which meant I had to resort to my other method of fighting- like I had done yesterday.

The kangaroo came at me with the intent to knock me on my ass when I concentrated my attention on the area in front of me. When it looked like the Noise was going to slam me down, a bear Noise suddenly appeared. It roared and struck the kangaroo, which ripped the things legs off. Both Noise vanished so quickly you wouldn't have known something happened unless you were either me, or had been watching.

When Neku defeated his own Noise, I collapsed onto my knees with pained breathes. Aesh appeared beside me as I started to cough once again.

"What the hell did you do, Rose?!" The orange teen yelled as he looked down at me.

My partner stared up at him with a frown because she knew I couldn't speak at the moment. I felt the blood beginning to come up my throat as Aesh rubbed my back like a mother would to a child who was throwing up.

"What did you see her do?" Aesh asked.

"She created Noise out of nothing! I saw it with my own eyes!" Neku cried.

I managed to recover from my coughing fit and I saw a small pool of blood nestled in my palm. I looked up at the boy as my body shook from the act of losing my blood. I was able to smirk with all the blood on my lips as my body leaned onto my best friend.

"You know the reason I'm able to do that. Don't be so angry for not telling you that either." I responded while swaying to my feet.

Aesh held onto me just in case I began to fall again as she looked at the three of us.

"Those Noise were tougher than the ones before! Were they the same for you?" She asked Joshua.

"Yes. Unless I had the light puck, they weren't affected like normal Noise." The boy muttered.

Neku sighed while rubbing the back of his neck. Even though I couldn't read his mind, I knew that he was shocked that his partner actually had something useful. Joshua seemed to notice the orange haired teen's thought as well and he said that didn't inspire much confidence.

"Lil Rose, since you seem to be the expert on Noise, why did it pick a fight with us?" I glared at the silver haired boy then.

He knew more than he was letting on. I just knew it. That pissed me off more than the fact that Neku didn't trust me enough to do anything without him breathing down my neck. I chose to ignore the question before turning to look at Aesh to see that she was frowning just a little.

Anyone else wouldn't have noticed, but I managed to see it. She wasn't happy about Joshua asking me that either, even though she had no idea what I was.

"Neku, we better hurry on over to Molco if we want to beat the timer." I told him.

He blinked his eyes towards me before nodding his head, as if he had just heard me. Aesh kept a firm hand on my arm and waist as we walked towards Molco.

I felt Joshua staring at the back of my head but I didn't bother to turn to look at him. I knew that I'd find annoyance in those purple eyes- at least that was what I hoped. Another hand took hold of the arm my partner didn't have and I looked to see that it was Neku as he hoisted it onto his shoulders. He glanced at me to see that I was surprised and he smirked at me.

"Can't have you dragging us down because of how slow you are. It's just this once so don't expect it to happen again." He tried to sound serious but I knew it was a lie.

Even if he was angry at me and felt betrayed, he wasn't going to let me drag down my partner. I smirked at him as we continued walking. It took maybe ten minutes to get to Molco where it would normally take five, but we were glad to make it anyway.

"All that we need to do now is figure out how to win this." Neku said to us while letting go of my arm slowly.

Aesh made a snorting kind of noise and Joshua did the same, though it was quieter then my friends.

"Good luck with that," The boy said while pointing towards a Reaper's decal. "At least there's one of them here. You won't have any problems entering."

I shrugged my arm off of my partner as she smiled at me. A thought popped into her head and it made her eyes light up in fascination.

"Those things make us visible right?" She asked me in a whisper.

I nodded and muttered that every shop has one just for us.

"But why let us shop at all? The Reapers want to erase us, don't they? Why would they help us?" Neku asked, obviously hearing what I had said.

I looked up at him with my ultra blue eyes and shrugged my shoulders. There were a lot of reasons Reapers let Players shop, but mainly it would be just for the hell of it. Can't expect them to go hungry and starve an entire week, right?

"It doesn't matter. Shopping is fun. The Game's better this way," Joshua said with a leisure wave. "Oh, you better hurry if you want to register, Neku."

The orange haired teen growled and said that he was going. As I watched him pass me, I noticed that he was actually worried. I realized in that moment that he had no idea how to play Tin Pin. I shook my head with a smirk but didn't say anything. He was going to be able to pull it off somehow.

It wouldn't be Neku if he couldn't do a simple thing like that. The rest of us followed him inside after I saw that he had himself registered. We were waiting for the first round to start when he turned to look at the three of us.

"Do…Do any of you know how to play Tin Pin Slammer?" He asked.

I was about to smack my forehead when Aesh did just that with a laugh. Neku glanced at her with a frown because I was sure he knew she was laughing at him.

"I've never had time to play that silly game! And neither does my best…" Aesh stopped talking before she got to finish that sentence.

I turned my head to her in worry because I knew what the rest of that sentence was:

Neither does my best friend, Rose.

She shouldn't know about me not being able to do Tin Pin. She shouldn't remember anything about me. That was her entry fee, her memories of me. I didn't know that for sure though, but I was positive that was her fee. Just like mine was my psych.

"Isn't that a game for boys anyway? I wouldn't know how to play even if you taught me!" Aesh started speaking again so suddenly that it made me jump a little.

Her emerald eyes told me that she didn't realize what she had been about to say the first time. She didn't remember that at all. Fury boiled deep in my stomach but I managed to keep my face expressionless so no one knew about it.

"Let's just say it's a good thing I'm not entering." Joshua said to Neku.

The boy looked surprised but he turned to face me in hopes that I knew how to Tin Pin as well. I frowned at him while putting a hand to my chest, where the stabbing pain was beginning to come back for a distraction.

"I didn't have time to learn when I was alive." I said softly.

That didn't stop Neku from screaming out in shock because all three of us didn't know how to Tin Pin. But from his expression, I knew that he didn't know how to play either. Joshua chuckled while brushing a strand of hair from his face.

"I thought you were going to clear this mission by yourself, Neku? You certainly can't ask these lovely girls for help, or me." He scolded while putting an arm over my shoulders.

My body immediately tensed before my eyes glared daggers at him. I knew he was not complimenting Aesh and me. I could just tell from the way he was smirking. I smacked his arm off of me while turning to stare at Neku once more.

"Ask anyone else but us. This is Tin Pin Slammer, a competition. Everyone here knows how to play." I said and Aesh nodded her head.

Neku grumbled that he didn't want to but I watched as he walked off to talk to some of the other teens and kids. My partner sat down in one of the chairs behind us and I leaned against the wall. It felt a lot better to just relax when I wasn't coughing up blood. I heard a kid asking Neku if he was entering the slam-off and I smirked a little.

"That's right! Losing's not an option for Neku." Joshua called out before I could say anything.

I noticed our orange haired teen look back at us with a glare that said for his partner to shut up. I shrugged my shoulders but winced when my chest got stabbed by the memory. Aesh and Joshua both noticed as I began breathing through my mouth slowly, but the pain intensified each time I breathed in.

"Seems like you got murdered pretty violently to still feel it now." The silver haired boy told me.

I glared at him but put a hand up to my chest. I fingered where the wound would be and I felt how sore it was. Even if it wasn't real anymore, I knew that if I looked down, I'd see the blood that stained my outfit when I died. I didn't want to see that again; not after looking at it so many times.

"What makes you say that?" Aesh asked before I could do anything.

Joshua looked at her through me with a taunting smile in my direction. That made the hairs on the back of my neck bristle, but I couldn't really do much but put up with it.

"Every Player has died in lots of ways, but not the natural death at an old age. If you stare at them long enough, you can usually tell how they died. If there's a limp in your step, you probably got crushed by something heavy. If you were suicidal, then your eyes would show brief flashes of what you used to kill yourself." I told her slowly.

Aesh looked up at me with surprise but even then, I knew that she understood what I was saying. She always did whenever I talked to her when the two of us were alive.

"But it's the Players that were murdered you have to worry about," Joshua said and I felt him touch my chest not too softly. "They remember the pain and it haunts them throughout the Game. Eventually, the pain will become so bad that it'll be the death of them."

I swung my hand up and slammed it into the one Joshua was using to poke me. I pinned it against the wall as I glared at him. Aesh jumped to her feet and reached over to pry my hand away, but I held tightly.

"I'm not one for killing other Players, but if you don't watch it, I'll erase you. Even if I die from my pain, I'll drag you down with me." I growled before dropping my hand.

Joshua's eyes told me that he hadn't expected me to do something like that. I doubt he thought I'd do anything if he started telling Aesh that I had been murdered. I couldn't stand being next to him anymore so I stomped off in the direction Neku had gone. My partner followed me hurriedly but by the time she caught up to me, I was molded entirely into the crowd. I easily found the orange haired boy though, and it looked like he had lost at Tin Pin based on how devastated he was.

"How horrible. Did you at least learn how to Tin Pin? And how far did you get?" I asked as I came up to him.

He looked up at me and I could see that there was desperation in his eyes. He had lost and didn't know how to get the gold pin to complete the mission. I stared at him for a few seconds before seeing something interesting. A smirk filled my face and I grabbed Neku's hand tightly, which made confusion appear in his eyes.

"I think there's something you'll be happy about. Follow me." I said before dragging him through the crowd once more.

I heard him yelling at me that I might be leading him somewhere to ruin the mission and I frowned at him but didn't stop moving.

"Shiki isn't the only one I want to get out of this hell hole, you know." I said.

This seemed to shut him up even if he didn't fully understand my words. It gave me enough time to tug him to the other place that had people in the finals doing Tin Pin. I pointed at one of the guys and I heard Neku mutter something that sounded like Shooter Dan.

I assumed that was his name as we saw that the Tin Pin he was using was malfunctioning. The boy beside me had wide eyes as we saw that someone I remembered from last week won the tournament. I then turned to Neku once more and pulled his hand up between our faces. His palm stared back at him and I knew what he saw:

Nothing. No timer at all.

"You forget that there are other Players that would rather fight to get the mission done then just sit on their asses waiting for it to be complete. The person that won Tin Pin is one of those types of Players." I said while letting go of his hand.

He stared at me with surprise in his eyes as I glanced at the other guy and his girlfriend, Nao.

"It doesn't matter which one clears the mission because those that remain go to the next day. There's no reason to get worked up over not getting it done the first time. And…" I scratched at the bridge of my nose in embarrassment while looking at Neku. "Aesh and I will always be there to complete the mission. I may not be able to fight very well right now, but trust me on that."

I watched Neku's eyes as they shifted from relief to confusion and then annoyance. I knew it was pointed at me and I let out a sigh of frustration to show I knew it. Without another word, I walked away from the boy with my eyes looking at the ground. I should have known he'd get mad at me. Saying those kinds of things to him wouldn't change his mind about me in the slightest.

I guess I just hoped it would make amends for what happened- even if it was just a little. I passed Aesh and Joshua and my partner walked out with me. She didn't know what was wrong but she made me look up at her anyway.

"Rosie, don't be so down just because Neku lost Tin Pin! Does he mean that much to you?" The question was meant as a tease to make me chuckle, but my eyes grew wide.

Aesh noticed and we both stopped walking outside of Molco.

"I-I didn't mean it like that, silly! I was t-trying to make you smile is all!" She hastily said while waving her arms like a flag.

I heard Neku and Joshua coming as a cough came out. A light spray of blood followed and it stained my partner's shirt before I collapsed to my knees like every other time. I could tell the two boys were talking to each other because the orange haired one was yelling at him. I couldn't decipher what was being said even as I coughed up blood at Aesh's feet and my hands.

She tried to calm me down as she repeated that she didn't really mean it. I barely heard her as I closed my eyes. This brought flashes of the knife coming for my chest. I knew that was what it was because the weapon had gleamed in the darkness. I felt a scream bubbling up from in my throat but it came in spurts because of the coughs.

"Get your butts over here right now! Rose is in pain and the two of you can't spare a moment to help me!?" Aesh snapped.

I knew she was talking about Neku and Joshua even as I leaned to far over, so I fell onto my side. I knew that this attack was because of what she said about Neku, because it was more violent than the others. That bothered me the most because I wasn't supposed to care about anyone beyond the friendship level. But it would explain why I kept coming back to him even after he accused me of lying.

I felt a hand grab onto one of my arms and they pulled me to my feet. I was breathing hard as my free hand latched onto the wrist of the one who held me. My feet were going to give out underneath me if I didn't have something to hold onto tightly. I was able to open my eyes just enough to see hazes of what things were and where we were going. Aesh was in front of me and holding onto the hem of my shirt to keep me in track.

I managed to get a glimpse of something that seemed to represent Sho Minamimoto's trash heaps. I didn't pay attention to it as I felt the coughing stop slowly. The blood was stuck in my throat and the only way I was going to be able to get it out was to either cough it up- which I didn't feel like doing again -or to drink it down.

"Are you okay, Rosie? We're following Joshua to see where he wants us to go." Aesh said to me.

I shook my head lightly and I suppose I murmured something about water and needing to drink it fast. She heard me and nodded while looking at who I assumed was Neku. Her lips moved and that told me she was telling the orange haired teen what I had said. I couldn't tell what he replied with because a shout vibrated around the four of us:

"You're just going to ignore me? You half-blind hectopascals!"

Everyone stopped walking as I tried to swallow the blood while sighing in annoyance. I think all of us knew who was ruining the end of the day for us. I felt the hand holding my arm suddenly tighten and I flinched while turned to look at Neku. He was grabbing at his head in pain as Joshua made a groan of annoyance.

"It's a stray Reaper. You seem grouchier than usual." He commented.

Sho frowned at us from the top of his trash heap at this. Even I could see that he didn't like whatever it was that was on his mind.

"Damn right! That game was zetta dull! Are you trying to bore me to death?! How bout a little flair!? Give it some edge! You brain-dead binomials are pathetic!" He yelled down to us.

I couldn't help but get the feeling that he had insulted us at that moment. But no one said anything about it as Aesh let go of my shirt so she could look at Minamimoto just in case he attacked us.

"Wow, you sat there watching the entire mission? Do GMs always have that much time on their hands?" Joshua asked in a manner I couldn't help but notice was teasing.

"No comments from the peanut gallery," Sho muttered. "Your opinions are garbage! Crunch! I'll add them to the heap!"

I frowned and tried to pry Neku's hand off of my arm. The blood had traveled down my throat to a point that I'd be able to speak without it coming up, but it was still lodged there somewhere.

"I figured you weren't much for criticism. Otherwise, why keep making those senseless junk heaps?" Joshua smirked then.

The Game Master scoffed and looked at the heaps he enjoyed making. I glared at the one who was still holding my arm. I couldn't get him to let go. Whatever he was seeing must have him freaked out enough to make him dig his nails into me.

"Every inch of my work is flawlessly calculated. Look at the perfectly understated silhouette. How can you not see the beauty!?" Sho cried while looking back at his heap before he turned to us with a smirk. "Time for a little quiz. What's the probability of you Players surviving the week?"

Joshua and Aesh muttered that they could only imagine what the probability was.

"Zero, same as your taste!"

I should have seen that one coming. He wasn't very nice to us Players. Well, he was meaner than any of the other Game Masters that I've encountered- and the ones I've met almost always defeated the Players.

"Attention, all tasteless tetrahedra! If you want to live, show me the limit of U as I go to infinity! Not that there's anything any of you can do. You fractals have no future! QED. Class is dismissed!" Sho screamed.

The loudness made me flinch because of the megaphone he was using to amplify his voice. I was glad that he finally left because that was the time Neku finally released my arm. Joshua watched as Minamimoto left Molco and he sighed a little while turning to look at his partner.

"Think he's got a thing for you, Neku?" He asked, which made Aesh snort in laughter.

"What!? How the hell do you figure that?" The orange teen yelled as I chuckled.

"The way he follows you around?" Joshua suggested.

"That's just because I'm a Player, right Rose?" I looked up at him with a slight smirk then.

"He doesn't follow me around. He acts like no one but you exists." I saw the tinge of pink appearing on Neku's cheeks and it made me chuckle just a little louder.

I don't think I've had this much fun teasing someone ever- alive or dead. It's just sad that Sho couldn't hear any of this stuff. But I guess something's weren't meant for his kind of personality to hear.

"I want you to destroy the ones you called friends. Those are your first, official orders." Beat looked up and hid something in his pocket and hoped that it wasn't seen.

"I gotta follow orders?" He asked Kitaniji as a way of distraction.

"But of course. We require proof of your loyalty to the Reapers."

"Aight, don't get your panties in a twist. I'm a Reaper, I'll do it." Beat said with the underlying hint of frustration.

He didn't like Kitaniji, just like several others Reapers have told him. But they had no choice but to do as he said, or they'd get erased.

"Before you head out, though, take her with you. I have a feeling our girl will sing in agony if you do."

Beat looked to where the Conductor inclined his head to see a female Reaper in shadows. She bowed before a voice of raw malice came from her.

"I'm Aera, a twin of Aesh's. I shall be the one to destroy Rose."


	10. Week Two, Day Three: A Darker Secret

**Week Two, Day Three: A Darker Secret**

I woke with a scream bubbling at my lips this time. I jumped to my knees to find my entire body shaking in nonstop fear. I couldn't get to my feet no matter how much I forced my quivering to stop. My ultra blue eyes skidded all over in search of what I had seen that scared me so badly. But I didn't know what it really was.

All that I knew before waking up was a feeling of intense hatred directed at me. It was total darkness so I had no idea where it was coming from, but I knew whoever had that much disgust for me still had it. What terrified me the most was that the knife gouged out my eyes and throat without a second for me to block it. That was why I almost screamed and was unable to move.

I noticed Aesh was just getting up while Joshua was talking on his phone and Neku was frowning at his partner. None really saw that I had freaked out as my breathing lessened until it returned to its normal pace. I got to my feet leisurely and I pulled out my phone to see if the mission mail had come while I was asleep. It hadn't yet, but I knew that it would be coming soon since I was awake now. Usually, I was the last to wake up from all the Players.

"Rose, you seem a little down for just waking up!" Aesh stated as she walked over to me.

I blinked and looked at her with a slight tilt of my lip curved upwards. It wasn't entirely a smile, but it also wasn't that forced so she'd be able to see through me. I didn't want her to figure me out that easily- even if we were supposed to be best friends and she didn't remember.

"You would be too if Neku stressed you out as much as he did me." I said teasingly.

The orange haired teen didn't even acknowledge that I had spoken, which wasn't surprising. He was kind of hooked up on glaring at his partner, who I noticed was still talking on his phone. I shook my head and made my way towards Joshua with my blonde haired partner skipping beside me. She was checking her cell phone for the mission mail that none of us had received and I'm sure it bothered Neku that he hadn't gotten it yet.

I barely noticed because the Reapers liked to do this at different intervals in some of the Games, just to freak out the Players. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't do anything but annoy them. Aesh suddenly grabbed my forearm and I stopped to look at her, but her eyes weren't on me.

They seemed to be fixated on something that wasn't near me. I followed her gaze to a group of people hustled around each other laughing, but I saw nothing that would have caused so much distress in her body. I flinched when she sank her nails deeper into my skin and when I tried to pry her off, it only hurt more.

"Aesh, that hurts! What's-?"

"Shh! She'll hear you and then we'll all be dead!" Aesh hissed lowly under her breath.

My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as I looked around the area that had my partner freaking out. No one stuck out to my eyes as I held my phone tightly in my free hand. If there was someone out for blood that wasn't a Reaper or a Player, I had to tell Mr. Kitaniji or one of the higher-ups. That was usually how serious this kind of thing was. I struggled to find who Aesh was telling me about but I finally grew annoyed that I couldn't find who she was saying was there.

"No one is there! Come on; let's get to Neku and Joshua. If we're with them, then we'll be okay- right?" She agreed grudgingly and followed me towards the two boys.

Joshua was the one to notice me first and he had an eerie grin on his face that had me glaring at him before I took one step further. I could tell that he was plotting something just from that face. I hated that so much that my fingers dug into my phone.

"If I can convince Rose to join us, will you come?"

Damn it, I knew it was going to be something like that. Using me like that was the kind of thing that I didn't like. Only if it was without my consent, actually. Neku glanced at me to see what I thought of this new idea. My ultra blue eyes bore into his in hopes that he'd realize that that wasn't what I was going to agree to. Before he could possibly read those thoughts in my eyes, all of our phones went off at once.

"Whoa, you were right. Here's the mission mail Neku!" Joshua said while smiling in a twisted way. "Rose, how 'bout you read the mail- seeing as you like to do that."

I glared at the silver haired boy but lifted my phone so I could read it anyway. There was no point in getting Neku mad at me for not doing something that we all needed to know. I checked the mission and crunched my eyebrows together in confusion. Glancing back up at the orange haired teen's partner, I saw that he wouldn't look me in the eye at all. Aesh repeatedly asked me what it was saying as my glare deepened.

_**"Proceed to Cat Street. Time limit: Fifteen minutes."**_

Neku and my partner shrieked that we wouldn't make it in time unless we ran all the way. The reason for that was because the street we had to go to was on the opposite side of Shibuya from where we stood. The two voiced that in shock and Joshua merely chuckled.

"We'd better hurry then."

My wrist was grabbed by my blonde best friend and she went running in the direction Cat Street was. I nearly dropped my phone before I managed to put it back into my skirt pocket. We raced towards the department stores since it was the fastest way to get to where we were going and at this point, a feeling of dread slapped me in the chest.

I stopped moving when we got to Cadoi City and I spun to stare at the area we had just come through. I scanned the crowds as that feeling rose higher and higher until it washed away all my other emotions.

No one stuck out to me as I continued searching. My hands dug into my pockets before one of them pulled out my black skulled Player Pin. Something was not right at all. Not if an emotion was scattering all the others and making me stop moving to find it. I flipped my pin into the air as Aesh asked me what I was doing.

I could hear her urging me to come help break down the wall a Reaper had put up as she grabbed my sleeve. Instantly, my heels dug into the ground as hard as they could when she started pulling me. I caught my pin and every person I could see had their thoughts slamming into me from all angles. I pushed the ones away that weren't concerning and listened for ones that threatened our lives.

None caught my ears and I sighed while lifting my pin to get rid of all the thoughts. Just before I did, a stabbing pain ran down my body straight from my head. I didn't really scream, but I must have made some noise because the next thing I knew, I was on my knees with my hands over my ears. Neku and the other two were staring at me but it was the former that was screaming my name.

My pin was staring at me from the ground with blood caked all around it. The liquid hadn't dried up yet so I knew it hadn't been long. I felt hands grab my shoulders and shake me violently, which made my hands let go of my ears.

"…the hell is wrong?! You were just fine a minute ago and then you crashed onto the ground coughing out blood!" Neku shrieked at me.

I could only imagine what else he had been saying since it was obvious that I caught the end of his words. He shook me again roughly to bring me back to reality and I blinked up at the three of them. I knew two of them would want to know what had brought my coughing fit on and I struggled to find an answer for them.

"I…I sensed something…When I tried to figure out who it was, I-I guess an emotion hit me too deep and brought out the blood."

I didn't think that was right though. But it was the best idea that I could come up with that wasn't a lie. Sometimes when you looked into a person's thoughts, if the emotion they feel is raw enough, it could do things to you depending on what it was. It had never happened to me before, so I had no idea what kind of feeling caused the attack.

Neku looked me over for a moment longer and then he rubbed what I thought was blood from the corner of my lip. I felt a jolt in my chest and that was when I scrambled to my feet while grabbing my Player Pin. I soon felt dizzy and I pressed a hand against Aesh instead of Neku or Joshua to keep myself from falling over.

Heat was rushing up to my cheeks despite what I coughed up already and I struggled to keep it away, but it wasn't working.

"W-We cleared the wall so let's get going, Rosie! I think we're almost to Cat Street." Aesh said while placing a hand around my waist.

She spun me towards the way Towa Records lied. Before I even thought to object, we were racing forward once again. Joshua smirked at me as we passed him and Neku rushed after us. I didn't notice at the time because I was trying to keep from falling over. It was not a wise decision to run with a dizzy head.

"If you're not careful, we might have to give you a transfusion." Neku said as Aesh finally slowed down in the underpass.

I felt her let me go as she rushed towards one of the Reapers with my bag- where I kept my money and the pins we usually needed to give to Reapers. I turned to stare at the other teen next to me to find that he was already looking down at me. I frowned just a little but I didn't consider what he had said was an insult.

"At this rate, it might be the only thing that'll keep me alive long enough to end this entire week. And I see that you aren't being rude to me so does that mean you forgive me just a little bit more?"

The expression in his eyes switched at my words. I realized that he must have teased me out of habit and that I was most definitely not forgiven. A sigh escaped me but it hurt worse that he thought about me like that.

"I guess it was a fluke, then." I muttered lowly before walking towards Aesh.

She looked at me with a broad smile as the Reaper took down the wall while holding one of the pins from my bag. She handed me the thing back and I put the tiny object in my pocket.

"We ready to go?" She asked all of us.

I didn't bother to say anything because it was obvious that I was going to go even if the others didn't. I walked forward and Aesh was with me, along with Neku and Joshua. When we left the underpass, the orange teen said that we should sprint from here. I opened my mouth to object and before I uttered a single syllable, he was gone.

I heard my partner and his mutter that he was really energetic today. They got a reply back saying that we needed to bust our asses running. I groaned a little but did as he said without much complaint. When we got to Cat Street, Neku was there, huffing his heart out.

"Did we clear the mission, Ro-Aesh?"

My partner stared at him in surprise and even Joshua did the same. It was obvious how much he was trying to avoid me now that I had pointed out he wasn't acting like he hated me. As my partner glanced at me, I only shrugged my shoulders and she lifted her hand to show that there had been no time at all. Neku's eyes grew to the size of the moon and it made me smirk at him.

"Joshua tricked you this entire time. There was no mission mail, the message was sent to only mine and his to convince you what it was. Aesh knew as well because she realized there was no timer on her hands." I clarified.

His partner nodded his head and pointed to a cafe- which must have been where he wanted to go this entire time. I dragged Neku towards the cafe as the other two passed us. I could tell that he was in shock that we had lied to him this entire time and I chuckled a little, though he didn't seem to really hear me.

"Mr. H? You in?" The silver haired teen called out.

"Heyy! I was waiting for ya, Josh." Hanekoma's voice said as he appeared from a room in the back of the counter.

I wasn't surprised to see the guy but it seemed the one I held was. Neku made a noise that caused the old guy to look at the two of us and he burst into a wide smile.

"Phones! Lil' Ro too! Both of ya are in the Game again?"

"We're both in it, yes. Shiki is Neku's entry fee this time around."

I watched as Mr. Hanekoma stared at me in puzzlement when I didn't say what my entry fee was. I kept my mouth shut even when it hit everyone else that they didn't know my entry fee or my partners. When the silence stretched on, the old guy shrugged his shoulders and told Phones to buck up.

"Nothin' you can do about that right now. 'Sides, boss, I'm sure she understands," He grinned at this point and looked towards me again. "And you seem to be in a real fix, Ro! There's blood all over your outfit and face and hands. What have you been up to, eh?"

I rubbed the back of my head while glancing down at my clothes. I had know there was a ton of blood from over the week but I hadn't thought that there was that much. You couldn't even tell my outfit was any color but red. That meant I had to find a different outfit eventually.

"So Mr. Hanekoma has saved your asses more than once last week? What a coincidence. He has been in the business of saving my ass for some time," Joshua turned to the guy then. "I hate to seem impatient, but could we- you know?"

Mr. Hanekoma nodded and asked for all of our phones. Neku was the only one to ask what he was going to do with them and I heard his partner snicker.

"Upgrades. And it shouldn't take long either." Came the reply.

It wasn't long before the old guy came back with all of our phones. Joshua thanked him and said that we can finally go on a little hunt. Without answering our questioning eyes, the silver haired male led us all outside. He pulled out his phone and pushed some buttons before a beeping noise came from the device.

"Hm, nothing here. I guess we'll have to canvass Shibuya and look for signals." Joshua determined.

He walked on ahead and Aesh followed without a word. I frowned and looked to Neku to find that there was something bothering him.

"You both look like ya got something on your minds." Mr. Hanekoma said to us.

I turned to face the old man with a smirk. If he was going to let us ask questions, then we better take the opportunity and not let it slip past us. We needed answers more than anything.

"How do you and Joshua know each other?" That was the first thing that came to mind because he knew someone that bothered me a lot.

"I've known him for a while now. He'd swing by when he was bored, and we'd talk. You see, he's a little special…As in he sees things. Like dead people- which is how he knew about the Game. He saw the Players and Reapers and all when he was still alive. And when he wanted to talk, he'd come to me. Not many folk would listen, if you know what I mean. He's been alone all his life, if you think about it. Even if he's really aloof and can be prickly, he's not a bad kid. And since the two of you are hanging around him, both of you are gonna have to make friendly." Mr. Hanekoma said.

Neku asked about the phones at this point and he was answered that trackers were installed and they'll find energy spikes and it point us towards the nearest one. He also installed another thing- but the thing was that we had to ask Joshua about it. Like hell he'd give us the answer we'd be looking for.

"We haven't gotten a mission today- do you know why?" Neku asked.

His eyes glanced at me the most so I decided to answer the best I could.

"Game Master's are the only ones who handle the missions. Hanekoma wouldn't know for sure, but I've been around enough to know that they really can only give you one mission. If something happens and makes the mission impossible to accomplish, though, I step in and change it- if Mr. Kitaniji approves of it and allows the change. Now, my last question is this: Why the hell do you have a cafe?"

"Hm? You mean WildKat? Isn't it pretty hip?"

We slowly nodded but I noticed that there was no one in the cafe at all.

"Always did love me some beans. I had to start a cafe because I came to be such an addict. Oh! I said I'd fix you two up with a cuppa last time, huh? Here, have some for the road. Only five hundred and twenty yen." I chuckled because it was expected that he would charge us. We wouldn't be getting off that easily.

"Hey, remember what I said at the beginning, Phones? Trust your…?"

"Partner, I know." He muttered.

"But the only person you seem to actually trust is lil Ro at this point. She's not your partner, Josh is. Trust him- even though he is the way he is. Enjoy every moment with all you've got."

I noticed the shock on Neku's face from one of the sentence that Mr. Hanekoma said but I don't think he really noticed at the moment that it had been pointed out I was the only person he trusted. I heard Aesh calling for me and I left the cafe without a second thought. Neku was able to find the three of us if he got away from the old man. But before I was out of ear shot, Mr. Hanekoma called out to me:

"The world ends with you, Ro! If you and Neku want to enjoy life, expand your world. Push your horizons out as far as they'll go."

I smirked to myself and waved a hand to show that I had heard him. Soon, the teen was at my side and we were chasing after Aesh and Joshua, who purposefully kept at least one sector ahead of us. I ground my teeth together and looked back at Neku. He was starting to slow down, which was a surprise. He was usually faster than me.

I grabbed his wrist and forced him to stay next to me as we got to Towa Records. That was where the two finally stopped running away from us. I almost slammed into Aesh as she turned to me with a wide smile.

"That was fun! We need to do that again, Ro-!"

"Found ya!" The voice that pierced the air caused me to freeze for a second.

My phone buzzed inside my skirt as I turned my head while pulling it out. I glanced down at it as Neku demanded to know who was there. My eyes widened when it was a message from a Reaper that I didn't know about:

_**"You're going to die before the end of the day. I guarantee it."**_

Pain laced through my head and the phone slipped from my fingers and crashed into the ground. The threatening words reverberated all over in my mind and I felt the blood beginning to rise from my throat. I grabbed at my stomach and dug my nails in as far as they could go.

Aesh said my name in worry as Beat appeared in front of us. I collapsed to my knees and swallowed what saliva I could to keep the blood from coming up.

"Get ready to hurt, Phones! You and Rose gonna bleed today, yo!"

I felt that deep feeling of dread rise and consume me at this point. I noticed that my phone was buzzing once again but I didn't dare look at it. Not if a Reaper caused this bad of an effect on me. I heard Neku cry out and say that Beat was okay.

"Better'n okay. See for yourself." I heard the flap of the black wings all Reapers had so I knew he had shown Neku what was different about him.

Joshua asked the two of us if this was one of our friends and Neku was the one to nod. The silver haired boy muttered that we got around for friends a lot.

"They ain't no friend a' mine. I only came here to erase you punks." Beat said.

I felt the earth shaking when he ran at us. I cursed and released my stomach. I brought up both hands and a red light fizzed between them. Before Beat struck Neku or me, a bear Noise appeared in front of us. It roared at the blonde Reaper and it made him stagger back. I let out a relieved breath before my eyes squeezed themselves shut tightly.

"Y-You summoned Noise! I thought only Reapers do that!" Aesh cried out in shock.

I didn't answer as I swayed to my feet; even with how hurt I was obviously feeling. The bear Noise lifted my phone from the ground and handed it to me- which shocked everyone but me. I stuffed the device into my pocket and opened my eyes after the wave of pain passed.

"N-Neku, we have to fight Beat. I won't be much help, but we have to try." I said to him.

The boy looked me over several times because he and I both knew that I was in no condition to fight. Not so early after getting an attack like that- even though no blood was coughed up. I turned to stare at Aesh and she seemed to agree with me that we were going to fight.

Without a word, she disappeared to the other zone before Neku said yes or no. The bear Noise's that I had summoned attacked Beat as I took a deep breath and forced the blood to stay down for at least ten minutes. When one was destroyed, I took action and went running at the Reaper. He noticed and swung a skateboard at me. I jumped into the air and dodged the blow before swinging a frog Noise at him.

It croaked before blowing up in his face and Neku ran passed me to get his attack in. The other bear Noise was erased when I glanced at it and that seemed my mistake. Beat kicked the orange teen away and came racing at me with his skateboard at the ready. I struggled to bring out another Noise but I couldn't think of which one to use, which ended in me getting bashed in the side pretty hard. I staggered to the left and ran into a person that I couldn't see. I hoped it was someone okay as I fell to my knees once again.

"That it? Your psychs is limp, yo! I was hopin' for a real fight from both yas! But your weak asses ain't worth beatin' down. Get lost an' consider yourselves lucky." Beat said with a glare at both of us.

I returned it with one of my own and I grabbed onto the fabric of whoever was standing beside me. As I lifted myself up, I felt something sharp dig into my throat. I immediately froze because I knew what that thing was. I knew it like the back of my hand.

It was a knife, the same thing that was used to kill me.

"Does little Rosie remember the feel of this blade? Is that why she's frozen?" The female voice was right in my ear and I could literally feel the malice washing into me.

I recognized the voice but it was odd because that was Aesh's voice. I remained silent as I struggled to have my partner appear next to me. Beat had walked off long ago and Joshua was talking with Neku- so why wasn't Aesh appearing yet?

"Do you remember me, I wonder? Do you remember how that blade slipped in and out of your chest while you begged for it to stop? Or even how hateful I was of you?"

I felt the knife press against my throat a bit harder and I dared myself to look up and see who had me in their hold. And as soon as my ultra blue eyes found a rich red staring back at me, I was scrambling to get away. It wasn't just the voice that had reminded me so much of Aesh now.

This teenager looked so much like her that I thought my partner had betrayed me. I swung up a fist and knocked the knife from my skin. I rushed to my feet and staggered backwards before landing on my ass. The girl was looking at me with malice in her eyes as she smirked at me.

I felt my memory of my death coming back when I saw her eyes again. The knife she held glistened with blood that wasn't actually there and a scream bubbled up to my lips. Tears bristled at the edges of my eyes and even though I tried to stop them from falling, they did as they wanted.

I couldn't breathe as she stepped closer to me. I opened my mouth to scream at her to stay back when Aesh jumped in front of me with her arms holding my head tightly to her chest.

"Don't you dare touch my partner, Aera! She has nothing to do with you!" She screamed, catching Neku and Joshua's attention.

The girl stopped moving and cocked her head to the side at the demand of my partner. It was like she was mocking us with those red eyes. I watched as the knife was raised and it was pointed directly at me.

"That bitch is the one who killed you, Aesh! She's the one that ruined our lives by getting murdered! I'll be damned if I let her take you away from me again!"

When the crazed teen threw the dagger at me, I brought up my hand and prepared to shove my partner away from me. But the weapon stopped moving inches from our faces with a blue aura surrounding it. I didn't have to look back to know that Neku had been the one to keep us from dying. The tears continued to fall as the girl glared at the one that had saved me.

"You'll regret that, boy. Rose is mine to kill- and it will be accomplished before the end of the week." With that, she stomped off with a cloak of darkness shrouding her from sight.

Aesh didn't let me go as she looked me over for any wounds that could have been given. I knew she wouldn't find any as my body began shaking violently and Neku rushed over. The knife fell to the ground forgotten and he was in my face as well. I had a feeling Joshua was watching from wherever he stood at this point.

"Who the hell was that? She really wanted to kill you, Rose." The male teen said to me.

I shook my head without saying a word because my thoughts were still fixated on my death. Still thinking about how she had known about my death when I had told no Reaper about it.

"I should be careful, hanging out with the three of you. All of you are bad luck. I'd hate to run into one of your enemies if that was a friend, Neku. Anyway, we better move on." Joshua said to us.

I heard Aesh object because I wasn't fit to be moved, considering how frightened I seemed. Someone scoffed and I assumed it was the silver haired teen as my friends helped me to my feet. I held Neku and Aesh tightly to keep from falling over as the tears continued to spill down my face. I couldn't stop no matter how much I tried and I think the male holding me knew it.

"Rose, did you want to sing a song? Maybe that would calm you down." I heard him suggest.

I don't know how he thought that would calm me down, but I knew that I should at least try it. Singing normally did calm me down- especially when there was darkness. Like that time Shiki, Neku, and I went to A-East and I couldn't breathe, so I had to sing to stop from freaking out. So I thought up a song I hadn't sung in awhile and took a shaky breath.

_"Where did we meet before just like this?_

_I know your smile, your voice, just like that._

_You talk to me and I smile back._

_I don't believe in fantasy._

_Same dress that now reminds me, something I can't forget._

_Same song same tone in your voice, tell me this isn't a dream…"_

I felt the tears starting to slide away and they didn't fill my eyes as we walked towards the scramble.

_"Take me forward, stars are still asleep._

_You and me, we live forevermore._

_I would follow you, my destiny._

_Won't you get my favorite photograph?_

_I'm getting played by you._

_Déjà Vu."_

I saw Aesh staring at me with her eyebrows knitted together in confusion and I had a feeling her memories were trying to come back. But they weren't going to because it was obvious her entry fee was everything about me. They wouldn't appear until the very end of the week. I noticed Neku was keeping himself from staring down at me and I knew by experience that he was thinking about my voice.

We had just stepped onto the scramble when Joshua yelled at us to hold it. We turned to look at the teen to find that he was looking down at his phone and it was making a sharp beeping noise that metal detectors made.

"We're getting a response! That means it has to be around here. But I don't know where…That means I have to pinpoint it. We're gonna have to keep looking around." Joshua said, though I had never seen him so excited before.

It was a first. We made our way towards the subway to find a Reaper clad in red waiting for us. I sighed and stepped over to him with the help of Neku.

"I'm not in the mood to do anything that you say so just let us through. If you don't, I'll erase you without a pause- and don't think I won't." I threatened.

The Reaper visibly gulped and shut down the wall without a thought. He ran off and I could see that he was sweating profusely. I turned to look at everyone and I urged them forward. We kept walking until we passed the Ten-Four Building, where Joshua made us stop.

"What's up with that line?" Neku asked all of us.

"I don't know but we should take a look anyway! The smell of all the ramen is making me hungry!" Aesh said with a bright smile.

She dragged me forward and both males and we reached a new ramen shop. The name of it was called 'Shadow Ramen' and by what I smelled, it wasn't really that good. The two boys stepped inside to see what the big deal was while we girls waited outside.

"I don't think we're going to be getting inside any time soon. All of us are invisible out here and we can't cut in line to get to the front because we'd get caught." I informed Aesh.

She nodded because she knew what I was saying. Not long after that, the boys came out looking annoyed. They were talking to each other and Joshua was glancing at his phone so I knew that he had found what he was looking for in that shop. I looked towards one of the ramen shops that I used to love going to and I found the store owner staring out at the people that wouldn't come to his shop.

I could tell that he was depressed because he was sighing so heavily it made me sad. But then I noticed that he was attracting Noise from all over the place. I signaled it to Neku and Joshua before going over to the guy with Aesh. The Noise that was surrounding him was easily wiped out without my need to summon some Noise.

"Heyy, Rosie, I'm hungry! We should go inside and get something to eat!" My friend whined to me.

I rolled my eyes but knew that all of us were hungry as well. I walked inside without waiting and Aesh did the same thing. The owner looked over at me and smiled a little.

"I haven't seen you since last week! I've got a new special ramen in! I call it 'The Big Catch.' You wanna try?"

I could see Neku didn't want to try this at all and it made me chuckle a little. He opened his mouth to disagree when Joshua and I beat him to it.

"The four of us'll have the Big Catch, sir." The owner grinned widely and took out four bowls for us.

He offered them to us and Aesh immediately dug in without complaint. She was moaning and saying how good it was and I followed after her. The silver haired one did the same and he told the owner that it was really good. Neku was forced to try some unless he wanted all of us to force it down his throat and I could tell that he was shocked to find that it tasted really good as well.

I glanced at Aesh to see that she was already done with her bowl and she was demanding another. I did the same just to tease her and she frowned at me.

"I'll beat ya, just watch!" She cried before gorging herself on the food.

I smirked and did the same- which brought on a ramen eating competition between the two of us. I didn't hear anything that was being said as the two of us ate more and more bowls without thinking. I was just about to get another bowl when a scream pierced my ears.

Aesh must have noticed it as well because she rushed outside with the two boys. I stayed where I was and finished my friend's ramen while getting another bowl to finish. I already knew who was making lots of girls scream. I was familiar with that kind of sound. More than likely, it was the Prince.

There was no other person that I was aware of that could make females scream themselves hoarse like that. The owner watched the door eagerly for new customers as I took my time finishing my last ramen bowl. By the time I finished, Aesh was calling my name excitedly.

I groaned just a little and paid for our food before walking out leisurely. I saw my best friend preparing to jump me and I smirked at her. She hardly noticed and when she tried to surprise attack me, I tackled her with my arms swinging around her waist. Aesh let out a little holler as the two of us laughed and I looked down at her while getting to my feet. I helped her up and at that point, I heard Neku screaming about today's mission.

"But what mission, Neku?" Joshua asked in a teasing tone. When there was no answer, he smirked and continued speaking. "Now, let's start sniffing out the reason this place is such a hit."

I frowned as the silver haired boy looked at me with a grin that told me what he was trying to get us all into. I wasn't going to do something for him at this moment. Not when I knew that he could figure it all out himself. So I turned to Aesh and her emerald eyes looked at me to see what I wanted.

"I'm going to go to A-East and get some new clothes instead of hanging with these two. You wanna come with?" I saw those orbs light up in excitement and she latched onto my wrist like a leech.

She gave a short cry of goodbye before I was dragged the entire way to A-East, even though it wasn't that far. I heard the boys saying something to each other but I was too far gone to hear it. I noticed that we passed the Prince and some guy that was dressed up fancy and had slicked back hair. Before I could really do anything, I was brought back into Lapin Angelique- the clothing store that I liked to go to.

The girl that was working there noticed both of us and if she saw the deep red in my clothes, she was really good at pretending it wasn't there.

"What can Princess K help you two find today?" She asked with a smile.

I glanced at my partner to find that she was giggling because she was ready to find clothes that matched her style in here. I wasn't as prepared as her, but I had an idea of what I wanted to grab.

"I want a two-tier skirt with white instead of red, a lacy spider web jersey, a ribbon mini hat with white ribbon instead of red, and my friend will have…?" Aesh grinned widely and took off where I had left the sentence hanging. "I'll have an asymmetric jersey, bandage pants, platform shoes, and a lace bonnet. Oh! And I couldn't possibly forget M'sieur Lapin!"

Princess K nodded happily and went off to get what we asked. I led Aesh into one of the booths and I went into the one next to her. Not much longer, the lady tossed over the clothes I asked for. I stripped myself of the bloody clothes that I had worn all last week and as I slipped into the new, comfy clothes, my partner started talking to me.

"That girl…the one who tried to kill you. Do you know her?"

There was hesitance in Aesh's voice, I could tell just from the sound of it. She didn't want to talk about that teenager more than I wanted to go insane from my death. But it had to be spoken so that we knew if she'd come back or not. Just so we could stay alive.

"No, I've never seen her in my life. I know that I thought she was you at one point, though." I replied.

"…That's because…" I opened my door and poked my head out after the outfit was put on. Aesh did the same and I saw that she had guilt in her eyes as they shimmered with unshed tears. "Sh-She's my twin sister, Aera. I remember my sister back from when we were alive and she never left the house. I used to have a best friend that was murdered- and while I was weeping over it, she'd actually leave the house and do things. I don't know why she's here, though. That doesn't make any sense."

I stared at her for several seconds as she regained her breath, but she was still distraught.

"I think it's my fault that she's here. It's my fault that she attacked you and I don't understand why."

I shook my head as the beginnings of her tears dribbled down to rest at the tip of her nose. I knew it wasn't her fault for this teen wanting to kill me. Some Reapers felt the same way for me and others liked having me around.

I paid the lady for our new clothes and I tossed out the ones that we didn't need any more. After that, I led Aesh outside so that no one but Players and Reapers could see us. I led her out until we stood near the area of Dogenzaka. She was still crying but not as badly and I had to force a comforting smile to appear on my lips.

"Don't be so down, okay? I'll kick Aera's ass with yours and Neku's help. She's not going to be able to kill me unless my arms and legs are ripped off!" Aesh began to giggle and I felt relief bubble up inside of me.

It was so good to know that I could make someone laugh when they were down in the dumps. As Aesh whipped the tears from her face, we made our way back to the two boys. The old guy's ramen shop was getting a lot of attention when I noticed it. I stepped towards it and found that Prince Eiji Oji was arguing with the man with slick backed hair inside the shop.

"…And you've got it backwards, Mick. A store isn't good because people talk about it. It's the product. The taste! People talk about a store because it's good. There's love in Sebastian's soup- love for the people eating it. That's the sort of ramen I want others to know of!" The Prince declared.

"Ugh…Eiji."

I watched from where I stood outside of the shop. Aesh was with me and it didn't seem like Neku and Joshua could see us- or else they would have been staring.

"Shibuya today is inundated with 'adventure.' And when all anybody offers is 'something different,' you get hungry for the familiar. It's comforting. Love has always been the world's best secret ingredient." Joshua said with a smirk.

"Yeah, you gotta fill more than just your belly." Neku added.

The old ramen guy began going off about how he had forgotten about the ingredient and the boys slipped out unnoticed. I placed a hand on the orange haired teens and the muscles underneath his clothes jumped at the contact. He turned his head towards me with surprise and I chuckled at the reaction I got.

"I see you've fixed the situation here." I nodded towards the shop at this. "That man will probably get a ton more people here if Eiji writes it in his blog."

Joshua looked towards me and I saw that he was staring at me up and down. I knew it was because of our outfits and Neku seemed to notice my clothes as well. The two gazed at Aesh and I for a long time until I grew annoyed.

"Stop staring and say something or forget about it." I snapped, bringing them out of their awed state.

"Well I don't know about Neku but I looked so long because I've never seen you that pretty." I scowled at what Joshua said but I didn't retort.

Neku's face turned a slight pink and I had a feeling he was thinking about what the silver haired boy said. I didn't let myself wonder exactly what his thoughts were as I grabbed Aesh and walked off.

"Let's head over to Spain Hill. I think there's a heap of junk that way." I informed them.

I was followed and while we were making our way there, I heard the two boys talking about what had been said inside the ramen shop.

"People aren't meant to figure each other out. There's no point in trying to change for anyone when you don't know them that well." Neku muttered.

Joshua agreed and I felt my partner release my hand so she could turn around with a smile. I shrugged my shoulders and copied her so we were walking backwards and showed that we were involved in the conversation now.

"You do realize that there is a difference between wanting to shut people out and getting rid of them, right?" Aesh asked Neku.

He frowned as if he didn't understand what she was saying. I shook my head and he turned his attention to me.

"The headphones that you constantly wear say how you feel about the world." I pointed out.

Neku's frown deepened and I rolled my eyes while looking towards Joshua. He told us that we were going to have to continue our search tomorrow. The other two asked why and when he didn't answer, Aesh asked what we were tracking. Still no answer. I sighed before the world went dark for the day.


	11. Week Two, Day Four: His Truth, Her Rage

**Week Two, Day Four: Neku's Truth, Rose's Rage**

I watched in boredom as Joshua and Neku battled with some Tin Pins for the fourth time now. Aesh was looking the same and as we glanced at each other, it finally came to an end. Again.

"I win!" Neku cried in excitement. The other one sighed and said that this wasn't a fair game at all and asked when he became an expert at Tin Pin.

"Why should I answer that?" The teen asked in a taunting tone- which was a first.

The new question annoyed Joshua and he yelled it was because he was asking. Aesh snorted and both boys looked at us with upraised eyebrows, as if they had forgotten we were waiting for them to finish their game again.

"When you aren't looking, he likes to train with Rosie! And yes, he does get beat by her over half the time." My partner commented.

I rolled my eyes but smirked at Neku nonetheless. He wasn't too thrilled that his secret was out as Joshua began laughing. He didn't stop for a long time and when he finally did, his partner said that since he won we had to wait another hour for the mission. This brought out the whiny side of the silver haired boy and the two males began their stubborn streak. It would have gone on if Joshua hadn't given in and pulled out his phone in aggravation.

All of us knew that this waiting was wearing thin on him but we were doing it to see how long it took for him to crack. I glanced down at my phone because it suddenly vibrated silently in my skirt pocket. I took it out and checked the message.

_**"Fourteen Players have died, and no missions have been assigned yesterday and today. Not to mention Reapers have been attacked continuously on Route Five. Taboo Noise is the suspect. The Game will not last a week at this rate. Keep those Players surrounding you alive, Rose. They might be the only ones left- and you may need them to complete the week so you don't fight alone. -Kitaniji."**_

My eyebrows furrowed together in worry at the text. Usually, no Reaper really contacted me with that kind of thing. I'd find out these kinds of things on my own. But this must have meant how serious everything was for the Reapers. Sho Minamimoto was missing then if there were no missions for today and yesterday. Either that or-

"Say, Rose. Do you think you could do me one teensy favor?"

I looked up at the mention of my name to find Joshua staring down at me. He had puppy eyes that I knew were a lie as Neku frowned at his partner. I hardly noticed as I closed my phone so no one saw the message. I then got to my feet and stared at him calmly.

"I won't convince Neku to lift the wait. We've got forty-five minutes left so I think you can-"

"How's about a trade then?"

The orange haired teen's face told me that this was what he had been waiting for this entire time. He had questions and wanted answers to them. And the only person that had those answers was Joshua.

"Then tell us what you're after." I demanded.

"You've twisted my arm, Rosie," Joshua remarked coldly, but I didn't let it phase me. "I'm not looking for anything major. Just looking for a way to jack Shibuya- which truly is the answer you all want. The only way to get the town is to find the Shibuya River."

My ultra blue eyes widened at the mention of the river. I hadn't known that someone outside of several close Reapers- myself as well -knew about the place. Neku asked what the hell he was talking about and Aesh agreed with him. But Joshua didn't want to answer that one as he looked at all of us.

"Do you all really want a second chance?" He asked, which made us ask what he meant. "What's waiting for you in the RG? Aren't you three as alone there as here? What's the difference?"

I looked at Neku to see that he was struck dumb by the question. Aesh didn't seem to want to even think of what was waiting for her. I didn't know about those two, but I knew there wasn't a chance that I'd come back to life.

Not when I still had a while to go before I was brought into the Game for real. I mean, I was in it at the moment- but if I got seriously hurt, it healed before the next day. Only I had that ability so I couldn't die. And I can be killed, but I don't want to again. So I have to keep fighting until I could come back to life.

"You don't have to answer. I don't really care. But now that the trade is over with, let's see how our signal is doing today," Joshua looked at his phone as it beeped and then he sighed. "It's coming out past Shibu-Q Heads. That puts it over near-"

"Udagawa!?" Us three cried in surprise, causing the silver haired boy to say that he was astonished that we knew the city so well.

"All of us were born and raised in Shibuya. And since it's in Udagawa, we don't have to go very far." I said while putting my phone to my face so I could open the message again.

Joshua muttered that someone was an eager beaver today and I glared at him before walking across the scramble crossing and putting in a new text for Kitaniji.

_**"Alright. I'll keep on the lookout for Taboo Noise and keep the Players I find alive."**_

I sent the message and closed my phone with a sigh. We traveled through Center Street when I found a Reaper clothed in red. I knew that he had a wall up then and I looked at my group. Neku already noticed and I began to wonder if I could get this Reaper to let us slip through without having to do the challenge. We were practically right on top of him when he looked at all of us.

"The boss isn't showing up and telling us what to do, ya know?" He said to me. "I put up a wall for the first ten minutes, but it's gone now. Just walk on through."

I stared at him in disbelief because no Reaper did that- even if the Game Master had gone AWOL. I didn't argue though because it was a free pass. The others seemed to think the same thing because they rushed on ahead of me. I had to run after them just to catch up, only to find that they were halted at the AMX building because of another Reaper. Aesh saw me coming and she smirked at me.

"He wants us to do a four chain battle! You up for that?"

"I'd be crazy not to." With that said, we fought off four different symbols of Noise.

It was an easy task for the most part, but I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching us the entire time. Who it was specifically I'd never be able to say unless they showed themselves- which was highly unlikely. If I had no way of seeing them, then they didn't want to be seen. I pushed the watcher out of my mind as the wall was brought down for us.

We made it to Tipsy Tose Hall when Joshua stopped me from going any farther. I stared at him questioningly and he pointed further away.

"Reaper alert." He stated.

I looked to see which Reapers it was and I noticed one was red clothed, another in black, and the last one was Triple Seven from the week before. The three of them seemed to be arguing but I had yet to figure out what it was about. I glanced at the three Players beside me and I had a feeling they weren't that concerned over the Reapers.

I shouldn't have been either, but I knew Triple Seven. He was one of the nicer Reapers that loved my music and he was never mean to me.

"I'm going to see what they're arguing about." I declared before walking towards the three of them.

Aesh paused for a moment and then called for me to come back, which I ignored. Someone stomped after me but I didn't bother to check who it was as I finally stood in front of the Reapers. Triple Seven looked at me and seemed surprised to see that I was here- at least for a split second. Then his lips broke out into a grin as he wrapped an arm across my shoulders.

"Hey there, Rose! I was wondering where ya ran off to last week!" He said to me.

"Just wandering around Shibuya in the Game again with Phones and a couple of other kids." I replied.

At that moment, Neku appeared beside me. He had a look of shock on his face when he noticed Triple Seven, who grinned down at him.

"Well, talk about perfect timing!" he cried. "You four aren't busy, right? Do you mind helping me out?"

I would have said yes immediately before he even got that sentence finished. But I kept my mouth shut because Neku was the one he was asking- not me. I felt Aesh lay a hand gingerly on my arm and I glanced at her with a smile that told her everything that okay. She seemed to feel a bit better after that as the orange haired teen finally groaned that we'd help.

"Ahem, Neku, Rose, did you forget that we're book at the moment? We have to get to Udagawa?" Joshua said to us.

I turned my head to glare at the boy as Triple Seven looked at him for a moment. After that, he turned to the Reaper clothed in red with a sigh.

"Tenho!" He said.

The Reaper nodded and snapped his fingers together, which I knew created the wall that led to Udagawa. Neku looked surprised at this and he glared at Triple Seven, which Joshua did as well.

"You four wanna get through here, you've gotta help us out." He said to us slowly, as if the boys didn't understand it.

Neku grumbled under his breath and cross his arms over his jacket. He and Joshua did not seem all that thrilled to be aiding any of these Reapers. I, on the other hand, was okay with helping because I liked Triple Seven. I turned towards the blonde Reaper with a slight smirk.

"So what's the short story of your problem?" I asked.

"Our band's mic has gone missing! It happened around two yesterday. We were doing a little gig at Molco, right? Unveiled a new track and everything. That shoulda been no problem. But! The show ends, we split for the day- I let our stuff outta my sight for one minute, tops- I get back and the mic's gone!" He exclaimed to me.

I noticed one of the other Reapers say something insulting under their breath and Triple Seven heard it. He turned to frown at his group as I sighed.

"You prob'ly just left it someplace."

"BJ, I'm tellin' you it was stolen! That thing is Def March's heart 'n' soul! I wouldn't just lose it. Somebody took it!"

"Well who in hell would want a mic with wings?" BJ commented.

Tenho nodded his head just a little and there was a moment of silence as the lead Reaper glared at the two. The Reaper in the black asked what he was glaring about before he started getting defensive, saying that it wasn't him that took it. I looked at my group and my eyes told them that this was a silly argument.

"We'll split up with you guys and look around for your mic, Seven. And personally, I'd love to have a mic like the one you guys have." I said to the Reapers just low enough so that only they heard me.

Triple Seven began laughing at my remark as I turned to walk off with the other Players. Aesh was at my side instantly as I glanced behind myself to see if there was something that I could catch. Joshua copied my actions so I knew that he was thinking the same thing I was.

I noticed BJ giving Tenho his cell phone back and the one in the black outfit said he found it at Spain Hill- but he said it so hastily that I had a feeling he was covering something up. I stopped walking a few feet from Spain Hill and the other three Players did the same.

"I'm going this way to see if I can find any new information," I said to everyone. "I'd ask if one of you boys wanted to come with instead of Aesh, but she can't fight without me around to help her."

My blonde friend smiled sweetly and rubbed the back of her neck as if she were embarrassed. Neku made a noise that I had a feeling meant he didn't believe me at all.

"Can't you create some Noise out of the air like you've been doing when you think none of us are watching?" He grumbled.

I looked at him with a frown but I had known he would eventually bring this up. The problem now was telling him the truth when I didn't even like the subject of me having that ability.

"I'd rather not talk about it, but I've always been able to create Noise as long as I have the energy for it." I answered the boy.

Aesh stepped closer to me and looped her arm through mine. Neku frowned at me for the answer that I gave him but I didn't make a move to elaborate as I looked at my partner.

"We'll take Spain Hill and you boys can figure out what happened down at Molco. We'll meet up back here in an hour." The blonde said to them.

Without another word, the two of us began walking away. I heard Neku take in a breath like he was going to say something and I waited impatiently for whatever it was. But it never came as Aesh and I stepped into Spain Hill. I noticed Tenho first and pointed him out to Aesh.

"Are we going to go talk to him then?" She asked.

I nodded and we made our way towards the Reaper. He didn't notice us until I was right in front of him, which seemed to startle the Reaper.

"Tenho, you got an alibi, I'm sure? For yesterday, around two?" I asked him.

I could tell I had the poor guy startled because he looked around with shifty eyes and saying that he was right here on Spain Hill yesterday. I frowned at him just a little while glancing at Aesh. She seemed to have caught the same things that I did.

"BJ said that he found your phone here, so I guess he wasn't lying." She muttered.

There was an awkward silence between the three of us but I shoved it aside and thought about any other questions that I could ask him. Aesh was the one that beat me to it this time.

"What makes that mic so special?"

Tenho and I stared at her as if she had said that she was alive. She had been around me for so long when we were living that it was a stupid question to ask- on my part, at least.

"It just is," the guy started. "Back when we were still busking on the streets, we all pooled our money to buy it. It's a symbol of our bond as a band. As friends. I stuck the wings on it, to remind us of that. Got us through some rough times."

Aesh and I nodded to show that we understood what he was telling us.

"But lately Triple Seven and BJ have been fighting over who gets to sing- over who has rights to the mic. Talk about irony…"

"So you must be pretty happy that the mic is out of the picture." Aesh stated.

"Yeah…" Tenho realized his mistake and started shaking his head back and forth rapidly. "B-But not that happy! I just…You know what? Never mind. I'm going to go wait with Triple Seven."

He stomped passed both of us with a look of annoyance, but I couldn't tell if it was false or not. Mainly because his back was facing me. Aesh turned to look me square in the eyes and she smiled happily.

"So, since we got done and we still have at least half an hour left, should we head on over to Molco to check on the boys?" I smirked at her and shook my head.

There were some things that I could never forget about this girl. Her way with admiring boys, for instance. Though I wasn't happy about it, I had occasionally caught her sneaking glances at Joshua when she thought no one was looking. Aesh's twinkle in her emerald green eyes suddenly sharpened and she smirked at me.

"Don't tell me you haven't thought of either boy that way, Rosie! I'm not the only one that's seeking to impress one of them." She teased while bumping me in the shoulder with her own.

I felt a crimson blush starting to appear across my cheeks and I turned my body away from the girl. She began laughing at me and grabbed onto both of my arms.

"It's fine to admit to thinking one of them is cute, you know! They aren't around to hear it." Aesh assured me.

I glanced back at her with a sigh even when the blush traveled up to my ears. I couldn't help the redness that was only increasing the more the girl spoke.

"I personally find Joshua absolutely gorgeous! I mean, I should have noticed when we first met on Day One, but it just hit me yesterday that I found him really hot! Neku I think is okay, but he needs to open up some more in my opinion. But I do know for sure that you have a thing for Phones! You're always trying to convince him of something that happened last week wasn't your fault, right? I think it's because you really want his attention, to be honest. I'm surprised you haven't thrown yourself at him."

I shook my head again and looked away from her. That was just too much. I could feel that my entire face was boiling red by now and I'm sure she could tell by just glancing at my ears. I felt Aesh nudge my shoulder for a reaction and I let out a sigh.

"I'm not going to say I'm into Neku or not, Aesh. That would give any Reaper worth their life to sell me out and use it to my disadvantage. There are people that want me dead, after all." I replied, causing her to laugh.

"You realize that means you actually like the guy, right Rosie? Besides that, I think he likes you too!"

I felt my feet stop moving in that instant. My ultra blue eyes swiveled towards my partner widely and she found me staring at her like that. She laughed a little and did a little twirl to face me completely.

"When you have one of those coughing fits, who's the first one that runs over to make sure you're alright? Not me! I'm always the second," she cried. "Oh, and he protected you from Aera when she tried to stab you in the face. And even though he says that he can't stand the sight of you and that he holds a grudge for whatever you did, if you sneak a glance at him, he's always watching you."

Those times floated through my head as she spoke them and I couldn't stop from thinking about them the way that she was telling it. I felt her grab onto my wrist and pull me forward as I realized that she had stopped talking all together. I was dragged all the way to Molco before my thoughts stopped moving all at once. It seemed that just because we were talking about the boys, they just had to show up when I didn't want anything to do with them for the moment.

We snuck up right behind them at the moment- well, Aesh did; I was being dragged -and the only ones that noticed were the Players from yesterday. The blonde beside me raised a finger to her lips in silence and both seemed to understand since they pretended we weren't there for the moment.

"…She was my entry fee instead of the other girl yesterday. And it's…it's my fault for-"

"No worries, man. That girl was your entry fee, right? That means you really care for her. No reasons to be guilty about that. And I'm not snipping any other Players. I don't care if only one of us gets to come back to life. Anyways, we better get moving." The guy said.

I heard them starting to say their goodbyes as they walked off but my eyes were entirely focused on Neku. I couldn't believe he just said what he said. All this time, all this time he's been blaming me for what happened to Shiki and what does he do? He says that the fault is on him.

Joshua turned to his partner and caught sight of Aesh and me. His violet eyes widened just a little before they smirked and I had a feeling it was because of the anger building in my eyes.

"Hey, Neku, you may have lost one girl, but I think you've just upset another." He commented.

The orange haired teen physically stiffened as he turned to face Aesh and me. His eyes fastened on me immediately and they grew wide in fright. I didn't have to glance at myself to know that even if I couldn't use my psych this week, my entire body was glowing its deep red color. I sank my nails into my palms deep enough to draw blood as I glared at the boy. I was so angry it was hard to get the words out the first time, but the second time I managed it.

"You…You've been telling me this entire week that what happened to Shiki is my fault. How could you go and say that it's actually your fault?" I asked him.

He opened his mouth to speak but I wasn't going to let him.

"All this time I've been busting my ass in hopes that you'd forgive me for what I did. I told Kitaniji to throw in strong Players this time, I picked out of five Reapers who the fricken Game Master was going to be, and I even made sure that I appeared close to where you would! Even with my psych taken away and the wound that Kitaniji gave me, I still followed you and hoped to be forgiven! Neku," here I took a deep breath and the red glow dissipated entirely. "I hope you rot in hell for not telling me I wasn't the one to blame. At this point, Joshua is no longer the one I can't stand to be around."

I spun away from the three and began to stomp towards the area I knew that Triple Seven and Tenho were at. Aesh made no move to follow and I could understand why. When any girl loses her cool, it's usually best to let her calm down alone.

I continued my slow way towards the Reapers while letting off a little steam by fighting some Noise whenever they showed themselves to me. Even if I was a Player, getting pissed or depressed still attracted Noise to me and anyone else. I continued walking until I reached Triple Seven and he noticed me first.

"Whoa, Rose, you look like hell broke loose! What happened?" He asked me.

Tenho and BJ noticed me as well but they didn't seem as concerned as the main singer was. I ran a hand through my hair and felt all the new tangles in them that had been caused by the glow of my psych. I looked back up at the blonde while crossing my arms over my chest like a kid.

"Phones just lied to me is all. Nothing to concern yourself with, Triple Seven. I'm going to be fine." I murmured to him.

The expression in his eyes said that he didn't believe me at all. But before he could say anything more to me, I heard Aesh calling my name. I turned my head only slightly to see her with the two boys and I whipped my head back around to face the other Reapers. If Neku was there, then I wasn't going to acknowledge either of the boys.

I stepped to the far side of the Reapers far enough away that I wouldn't hear the words anyone spoke but I was close enough to know when we were going to leave. Aesh came over to my side and stared at me for a few seconds before she smiled softly in a knowing way.

"If you want someone to vent it out on some more, I'm standing right here." She offered.

I frowned at her but shook my head. I wasn't going to let anymore of my anger slip out on someone that didn't deserve it. At the moment, it was all directed at Neku, and if he even stepped an inch closer to me, I'd blow up again. It wasn't a long time before I heard a loud voice coming from a megaphone.

"Sine! Cosine! Tangent!"

I realized what the voice was as soon as the first letter came out and my eyes just happened to be drawn to the junk heap that was towering over me. I nudged Aesh and she glanced at me questioningly.

"Their mic is in that giant pile of trash left by Sho." I said to her.

She looked at me with wide eyes and then turned to face the junk heap I had mentioned. Those emerald eyes told me that she hadn't thought that that was where the mic would be. I honestly hadn't either until I heard Sho's voice in the megaphone. Aesh looked at the two boys and said the same thing to the Reapers. All three of them glared at the junk heap before lunging at the pile in search of their beloved mic. Tenho released the wall over the route we wanted to take and I walked on ahead without pausing for the others.

I heard my partner calling out for me to wait but I didn't listen as I made my way through Shibu-Q. The stores in the area caught my attention for the most part so I didn't notice when I bumped into someone- probably a Player because we in the UG just go through those in the RG. I backed up and started to apologize when they grabbed at my throat. I made a choking sound and looked at who was picking me up off the ground so my feet were dangling in the air. My eyes widened when I found that the one holding me was Beat.

"Yo, where's Phones?" He asked me.

Just that question alone brought my red aura coming back brightly. His eyes expressed confusion as I swung a foot up and kicked at one of his knee caps. I was released and I stepped hastily back while summoning two wolf Noise beside me. They growled and raised their hackles warningly at the Reaper as my glow remained the same.

"I'm not in the mood to talk about Neku. For now, I suggest you get out of the way and leave me the hell alone." I said to him.

Beat glared down at the wolves but they didn't back down. I glanced around Shibu-Q Heads in hopes of finding an escape from the Reaper. I did not want to have a fight right here at the moment, though my anger would do me good to beat him. The wolves made a sharp barking sound that told me that Beat was beginning to step closer.

I brought my attention back to him while lifting one of my arms in a way that made the aura tingle. I was about ready to summon a bear Noise behind him when a knife came flying at me from the side. I saw it just in time and darted out of the way. One of the wolves ran in that direction while the other lunged at the Reaper.

"I warned you, Beat. I am not in the mood to go as easily as last time." I said while bringing out one bear Noise and several frog Noise.

The blonde gritted his teeth and lifted his skateboard, which I knew was going to be used to attack me. I watched as he ran at me with a smirk and the Noise I created ran towards the attacker as well. I turned my head just enough to see who had thrown that dagger at my head and I saw that my wolf that went over there was fighting against a black mass.

Of course, that was only because it looked like a mass. The wolf was just fighting a Reaper clothed in pure black. I noticed Beat coming at me one more time so I created another wolf beside me to block the attack that would have hit. I heard a yelp of pain behind me and a slight burn ran up the back of my calf. I flinched but managed to keep from showing most of the pain to both of the Reapers. They'd realize the one flaw I had when Noise was summoned by me.

I started to look back to see what had hurt the wolf Noise when another dagger from the darkened Reaper came flying at me. I pivoted out of the way while kicking up one foot at Beat. His skateboard came in contact with me but I barely felt it before something hit me over the head. I had no choice but to stagger slightly before falling to my knees as a loud ringing erupted in my ears.

The Noise I brought out were forced to vanish from sight as my hair was roughly grabbed and slammed backwards. Even if I had been expecting it, my heart nearly stopped beating in shock when I saw that it was Aesh's twin, Aera. She was staring down at me with that malicious grin that she had on last time I faced her.

"You were a lot tougher to catch this time thanks to those Noise you summoned! But I finally managed to get to you, thanks to Beat." She told me while nodding her head in the direction the other Reaper was in.

I gritted my teeth in anger for being caught off guard like this as I struggled to bring out at least one strong Noise to fend her off. But I knew it was useless. I could hardly move when she was around me, as much as I hated to admit that. Aera caused memories of my death to come back as if it were happening all over again. And every time, even when I knew that whoever had killed me was never going to be known, her face filled the void with blood lust in her red eyes.

That scared me more than anything because it made me feel as if she was the one who always slaughtered me, when I knew that I had never met her until this week.

"Hey, you're not listening to me at all Rosie!" My hair was yanked back further and the tip of a dagger was placed right at my eye, where it threatened to stab itself through. "If you don't pay attention, I just might take out one of those eyes every Reaper talks about. Or maybe it should be both…"

I swore the blade grew bigger and I cringed away from it. Aera made a noise that sounded as if she were scolding me just before a new voice called out to us. I opened my eyes and just barely turned my head to find Aesh and the two partners looking at the three of us. Beat rushed over to them as my partner darted passed him to get to me.

"You let go of Rose right now, Aera! I won't forgive you if you don't!" She called out while swinging up a foot.

The twin released my hair and I scampered on my hands and knees to get away from the Reaper. I managed to get enough distance between us that I turned around to face the siblings who were glaring at each other. The one full of malicious intentions looked right at me with a smirk I absolutely didn't like.

"Aw, let me at least rip off her arm, sis. She deserves so much more than you would ever let me do!" Aera cried as Beat began fighting the partners.

"No! She doesn't deserve anything from you! Rose doesn't even know who the hell you are."

I slowly swayed to my feet as the two yelled at each other over if I could be cut up or not. In the distraction, I managed to regain some of my strength from before seeing Aera and I concentrated some of that towards bringing out several bear Noise. This worked after a slight struggle and the creatures made their appearance known by roaring very loudly in all directions.

Beat and the partners even stopped fighting to look back in confusion at the sudden Noise. But of course, all eyes focused on me when they noticed I was standing beside all of the bears. I glared at each Reaper as three Noise each went towards one of them.

"Get the hell out of my sight. I don't care if you want my head or not, Aera. You may frighten me a whole ton but unless we're fighting on fair terms, I won't be going as easy as you think. And Beat, if you stop bringing this girl with you, maybe I'd actually have a chance of battling you. But seeing as none of you will listen to what I have to say, I'll let my bear Noise get rid of you." I growled out before said Noise swung a paw at their opposing Reaper. Both dodged the attack and returned my glare more than what I had given them.

"I'll slaughter you the next time we meet and I will hear your screams, Rosie! Mr. Kitaniji promised me that much for every moment we faced each other and I have yet to hear them from your mouth. So be a dear and loosen those lips for the next time we meet up." Aera said in a venomously sweet tone.

A chill ran down my entire back before returning as the feeling of dread made circles in my eyes. I forced the emotion down and the bear Noise began to slash their claws at her. With a flap of her wings, the crazed Reaper was completely gone and Beat had vanished as well, though I don't remember when. My partner rushed towards me as my knees gave out from being so tired.

Bringing out so many Noise at once drained even the strongest of Reapers so it's no surprise that even I collapsed. I heard Aesh ask if I was okay and I nodded a little while taking a few deep breathes. When I recovered enough to stand I noticed Neku was holding a bell necklace tightly in a fist. Just looking at it, I remembered that Rhyme had been wearing that last week before she was killed by the giant shark Noise.

A deep pain in my chest appeared at the memory as my partner helped me go to the two boys. I couldn't bear to look at the piece of jewelry anymore so I focused my eyes on Neku's face. Even if I wasn't all that happy with him, it was better than seeing bad memories.

"We should probably get going. Udagawa is right over there." Aesh said to us.

The boys nodded and the orange haired teen put the bell in his pocket while glancing at me. My eyes were still on him so we made eye contact easily. In his eyes, I could see that he was trying to appear sorry for doing what he did to me. I didn't believe him at all so I looked away and walked towards the Udagawa section. All of them followed me and we eventually made it.

"You guys know Udagawa well?" Joshua asked us.

"Yeah. I used to come here after school." Neku replied.

"I always played games with my kid brother around here. And my best friend and I used to do some graffiti before I grew famous." I added.

"Well, I don't remember much about it, but I think I used to do some graffiti in the middle of the night as well." Aesh said, though all of us but her knew she and I were talking about the same experiences.

Joshua asked if Neku ever went here with his friends. The latter scoffed and muttered that he didn't do groups because he had never met anyone fun to be around. The silver haired boy chuckled and agreed with him.

"You know, Shibuya's a lot like you, Neku. Cut off from everything else."

"Where the hell did that come from!?"

He ignored the outburst and continued talking. "The UG is split into different areas. Shibuya's just one of them, just like it's only one part of the world at large. Each UG area has unique rules. You can't travel between them."

I rolled my eyes because I knew all about this. Reapers and other Game Masters from different UG sectors showed up to discuss how many Players died or survived or who had the better Reapers. The last time one appeared, I was the talk of all UG's and everyone wanted me to go to their Game. But Mr. Kitaniji 'convinced' the others to let me stay here.

"Oh, so you know about Mr. H and my conversations. Anyway, as I was saying, every area has its own rules. They never meddle with each other. Sound familiar?"

"That could apply to anyone."

Joshua chuckled and he said that as long as we had our own worlds, no one was ever going to change. That was when they began talking about the murals that CAT always put up and I lost interest in keeping to the conversation. It wasn't that I had no appeal for CAT, I liked them as much as Neku did. But I didn't voice CAT as much as I should and could. After they were done talking about other people's values and ideals, we walked up the steps to the mural CAT made up ahead.

"3 is the point of the 1," my ears and eyes found Sho talking to himself. "4 the 1-5-9 are 2."

Aesh and Neku began to ask loudly if that was who they thought it was when I turned around and silenced both of them with my hands. Joshua shushed them both and whispered that we should see what he was up to.

"6-5, 3-5! 8-9, 7-9! 32384 62643 38327! And…perfect. Soon I'll have my desired solution." Sho said to himself in excitement before he vanished from sight, like most Reapers can do.

I glanced around in every direction to make sure he wasn't around and I looked back towards the other three and nodded to show that he was gone.

"So...What was that all about?" Aesh asked when I lowered my hands from the two of them.

Joshua and her walked over to where Sho had been and I started to follow when my hand was caught by Neku's. I turned to glare at him when I saw that his cheeks were turning a light pink underneath his jacket. The glare faded to be replaced by a questioning expression in my ultra blue eyes. His own shifted away from me as his free hand played with one of the strands of wild orange hair.

"Um...I just wanted to, um..." He was stuttering a lot so it made it difficult for me to understand what he was trying to get at. I finally frowned at him and yanked my hand free.

"Look, I'm still angry that you were lying to me this entire time and making me think everything was still my fault. Even if you're trying to say sorry, I'm not going to forgive you that easily." I told him before walking over to Joshua and Aesh.

They were inspecting the ground for some reason and as I got closer, my eyes began to widen and my fingers trembled. Both of them looked towards me as Neku slowly followed as well. I couldn't describe what it looked like completely, but it did have strange symbols and dark purple markings of Noise- the opposite of the red symbols we usually saw.

Joshua told me something about his phone reacting to it but I was hardly listening as I pulled out my own cell phone. Without a word, I tried to take several pictures of the symbols but my hands were shaking so badly it was blurring the photos. A hand suddenly reached passed my head and pressed it against mine to steady it.

I jumped at the contact but recognized that the hand was Neku's as he snapped the pictures I had been trying to get. They came back non-blurry and I glared at his hand for it, even though I accepted the help wordlessly. When he let go of me though, I moved away to stand next to Aesh as Joshua looked towards his partner.

"I'd like to check over by that mural. Do you mind?" He asked.

The partner stuttered out a no and he followed the silver haired one. My best friend did the same as I put the pictures in a message to send to Mr. Kitaniji- even though I didn't want to.

_**"These were drawn in the Udagawa section by Sho Minamimoto. If they're what I think they are, we might be in big trouble for the rest of the week."**_

I texted before sending the message.

Hopefully he'd actually look at it and reply before it was too late, but that usually never ended well. All I could do now was wait for his answer to the photos.

"And just what are you doing here?"

I turned my head and glared at Uzuki and Kariya for sneaking up behind me. The pink haired one rolled her eyes at my expression in exasperation.

"I asked you a que-"

"Uzuki, get on the horn with HQ. Now." The male Reaper interrupted.

Both of us stared at him questioningly and at that moment I began to wonder why none of the other Players noticed that there were two Reapers talking to me not far from them.

"That's a Taboo Noise refinery sigil." He stated.

My eyes widened and I was glad that I had chosen to send the pictures. It was exactly what I had thought it was. The female Reaper looked at the ground in shock as if she didn't believe it at all.

"So the GM's the source of the Taboo Noise." She said.

"No, not this one. The sigil hasn't been used. There has to be another source. But we saw him do it, just like the Players and Rose. Strong enough evidence that he's behind it all." Uzuki then began talking about all the promotions the both of them could have and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her.

That seemed like all she ever wanted. Promotions, promotions, promotions. I didn't know any other Reaper besides her that was more greedy like that.

"I'll pass. Just get me a bowl of ramen or you can just take care of that report for me."

"What?! You're too lazy to even claim the credit?"

"Yes, something like that. 'Sides, I have another mystery or two to unravel." He said as the two of them walked off, leaving me where I stood.

I turned my head to look after Neku and I saw that he was grabbing at his head in pain with his Player Pin clenched tightly in one of his hands. I couldn't find where Aesh was but I wasn't worried in the least. She never left us for very long. I had a feeling that she was in the CD store close by.

I grudgingly made my way towards the two partners as Joshua began talking to the orange haired teen, asking if there was anything wrong. I crept forward a bit more and inspected the two males to see if one of them caused the pain. Neku suddenly grabbed a hold of my forearm and I looked down at him in surprise before beginning to pull it free.

"I'm…Just a little dizzy. I'm good." He murmured while lifting himself up using my arm- much to my dislike.

"Good. Let's move on. Nothing else to see here." Joshua said and he began muttering that the tracker was leading us in circles.

I sighed a little and headed towards the CD store that was right in Udagawa. As I made my way there, my cell phone started vibrating incessantly. I pulled it out of my pocket and flipped it open to find that it had two text messages. One was from Mr. Kitaniji. And the other was from a number I didn't recognize. I opened the one from Kitaniji first.

_**"Rose, other Reapers have said the same thing. If it is really true, be on your guard and eliminate Sho if there is need for it."**_

I muttered something that sounded like bastard before going for the second. At first, I didn't believe the words that had been sent to me. It took several minutes to fully realize that this was real.

_**"This is the Composer. You must kill Neku and Aesh on Day Five."**_

And unlike other times, I couldn't get out of this.


End file.
